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ANIMAL STORIES 
FROM ESKIMO LAND 




"'Who are you?' said the boy" 



ANIMAL STORIES 
FROM ESKIMO LAND 



ADAPTED FROM THE ORIGINAL 

ESKIMO STORIES COLLECTED BY 

DR. DANIEL S. NEUMAN 



BY 



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^^[vw^^ RFNFFfrOT^DFRT RIGGS 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS BY 

GEORGE W. HOOU 




■^-^fr- 



NEW YORK 
MCMXXIII 



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Copyright, lQ2j, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved 



SEP 15 •23 



Printed in the United States of America 

©C1A752057 



^fo ^ ^ ^ 



With 
AFFECTIONATE GREETING 

I DEDICATE 

THIS SMALL VOLUME 

TO 

MY LITTLE FRIENDS 
THE CHILDREN OF ALASKA 



FOREWORD 

The Eskimos are a kindly, industrious, smiling people. To our 
way of thinking their lives are uncivilized and cheerless. And 
yet, in their own primitive way, they find much happiness in life. 
They live from one moment only to the next. When food is 
plentiful, they gorge. When seals and game are scarce, they 
patiently do without. 

Eskimo children never cry. They are never punished by their 
l)arents, for the spirits which inhabit their little bodies might take 
offense and depart. They play happy games as do children the 
world over, with balls sewed together from reindeer or seal hides 
and with toys carved from ivory, bone or wood. 

The people are courteous and considerate. I have sat in their 
kasgas when the oomaliks (head men) were in council with my 
husband, who at that time was Governor of Alaska. The dignity 
and order of their debates would honor any legislative assembly. 
There is no interruption to a speaker until the final "I have 
spoken." 

The council finished, comes the customary dance in the kasga. 
The dance is always symbolic — the coming of spring, the flight of 
the ducks, the spearing of the whale, the wolf dance, or the killing 
of the bear. The men dance with grotesque gesture until ex- 
hausted, while the women with quiet feet, sway gently in unison in 
the dim light from the opening overhead. On the platform at 
the end of the kasga the musicians beat industriously on their 
drums. 

The stories in this little book are adapted from some of the 
great number gathered through many years by Dr. Daniel S. 
Neuman, of Nome. It was Dr. Neuman who painstakingly made 
the splendid and unequaled collection of Eskimo antiquities and 
modern implements now on exhibit in the territorial museum at 
Juneau. The acquiring of this collection for the Territory was 
one of my husband's last official acts as governor. 

I have endeavored to rewrite these tales for boys and girls in 
the hope that they may take an interest in that quaint people, liv- 
ing still in the stone age, who, on account of their contact with the 
so-called civilized races, are gradually vanishing into the past. 

Renee Coudert Riggs. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Foreword i 

The Journey to Eskimo Land i 

IVANGO OR THE LoST SiSTER 6 

The Robin, the Crow and the Fox 17 

The Proud Mouse 23 

The Crow and the Daylight 28 

The Orphan Boy 35 

A Race Between a Reindeer and a Tom-Cod ... 44 

Why They Have Summer on St. Lawrence Island . 47 

The Lost Son 53 

The Crow and the Owl 59 

The Running Stick 61 

The Treacherous Crow and His Cousin, the Mink . 68 

Good and Bad Weather 76 

How the White Whales Happened 78 

A Giant and His Drum 82 

LovEK and Seranak 85 

The Caribou 90 

A Fox Story 94 

Mi-e-rak-puk 106 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

" 'Who are you ?" said the boy" Frontispiece 

Facinii page 

"Looking up into the tree, saw Kaytak standing by his nest" . 19 

"At last he saw that it was shining from a big snow house" . 30 

"Stopped to say good-morning to the fish" 44 

"Poured the black oil all over the crow" 61 

"The bear came round by the same track and saw the salmon" 68 

" 'Lovek, I have you at my mercy now' " 86 

"Snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last" 105 



THE JOURNEY TO ESKIMO LAND 

The big easy-chair was drawn up before the fire, its 
hospitable arms extended, to embrace a father with a 
little boy on one knee and a little girl on the other. It 
was story-telling time. 

"Well," said Father, "where shall we travel tonight?" 

The glowing embers showed two eager little faces. 
"Take us to Eskimo Land!" they said. So the father 
settled deeper down in the cosy chair and stretched out 
his long legs. 

"Very well, to Eskimo Land w^e shall go. I will take 
you inside a 'kasga' and let the Eskimos tell you their 
own stories; but before we go there I must explain to 
you that in every Eskimo village there is one house 
called a 'kasga.' Now this kasga is the place where they 
all go to pass the long, dark hours of winter, with song 
and story. Sometimes they dance to the weird music 
of beating drums and chanting voices, and again, they 
sit quietly mending their weapons, their fishnets or 
spears ; or again, some of them will be carving beautiful 
pieces of ivory taken from a walrus tusk. 

"The house called 'kasga' in which they meet is built 
by all the people of the village. Every one lends a hand ; 
even the little children do their share of the work. There 

1 



2 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

are logs of driftwood to be hauled; there is turf or moss 
from the tundra to be put over the roimd roof, and dig- 
ging to be done with the big bc»ne shovels. So they all 
help to build the place in which they spend so much of 
their time. The men gather there when they get home 
from himting. They cannot be out long in winter. It 
is dark most of the dav as well as the nisrht, and the 
storms are so bad they do not dare to go very far away. 
The women bring their sewing too, which they do with 
thread made from dried sinews from the leg of the cari- 
bou or from the white whale which the old women 
patiently pull apart into long threads. 

"Xow," said Father, "shut your eyes tight and we will 
put on oiu* invisible caps and go to Eskimo Land, right 
inside a kasga to see what is happening there this cold 
winter night.'' 

So the little boy and girl shut their eyes and clung 
tightly to Father's hand while he counted very slowly, 
"One, tvvo, three I'" 

'"Stoop over," said Father, "and creep on your hands 
and knees, for to get into the kasga we have to go 
through a long, low, tunnel-like entrance, until we come 
to a hole right over our heads. Here we are ! I will give 
you a push. Jump up now!" And they popped right 
through a hole into the middle of the floor of a big room. 
Isn't that a funny way to get into a house ? They were 
in the kasga at last. 



The Journey to Eskimo Land 



There are no windows to this house, but a round hole 
in the middle of the ceiling, or roof, «:erves both as win- 
dow and ventilator. This, in winter, is usually covered 
with a curtain of bear or seal intestine, which keeps out 
the cold. Also it keeps out the fresh air. Sometimes, 
when the room is very full of people, the warmth from 
their bodies and the steam from many breaths form a 
moisture that drops down upon them like rain. 

The room is square, and about it runs a wide platform. 
This platform is about four feet from the ground. All 
the men sit on it, while the women sit on the floor at their 
feet, with the little children gathered about them. There 
are lots of little children in Eskimo Land. They are 
good little ones, too. Their parents love them dearly, 
but they have to learn early in life to be good and patient, 
for sometimes they get little or nothing to eat for days 
at a time, when game is scarce and their fathers come 
back from hunting without any meat for them. So 
these little ones do not fuss and cry, for they know that 
they cannot always have what they want when they 
want it. 

There are no electric lights in Eskimo Land, nor do 
they have big open fireplaces in the houses, with bright, 
crackling logs to keep them warm, for wood is hard 
to get. 

About the floor of the kasga are placed lamps of 
heavy stone, hollowed out like dishes, in which wicks of 



4 Animal Stones from Eskimo Land 

moss soaked in seal oil are burned. The lamps give a 
yellow, flickering' light and a little heat. The women 
take care of the lamps, keep them clean and see that 
they do not smoke or go out. 

On the middle of the platform, at the end of the room, 
sits the "Ommalik" of the village. Eskimos do not have 
real chiefs like Indians, but in every village there is a 
rich man; that is a man who has more than the others 
of what the Eskimos use and need the most. The Om- 
malik is like a chief for the time being, a sort of boss, so 
we will call him chief for convenience sake. 

In the kasga we are in now there are two shelves high 
up, one at each end, where the unmarried men, the 
bachelors, sit; and quite a scramble they have, too, in 
getting up so high. 

On the floor at the feet of their husbands sit the mar- 
ried women with their babies in their parka hoods and 
their children playing near them, but the little ones keep 
very quiet and never dare to make a noise when the 
grown-ups are talking — which would be a good example 
for lots of little white children I know. 

Huddled up in a corner sat a very dark little man, 
with long black hair that hung down into his eyes. He 
was as close as he could get to one of the lamps, and in 
his hand he held a piece of creamy ivory, upon which he 
was carving the story of a walrus hunt, in pictures. Near 
him sat a man busily mending a spear. Ommalik looked 



The Journey to Eskimo Land 



around the room. Soon his eyes rested upon Ungukuk, 
the Httle man carving the picture story. "Ungukuk," 
said Ommalik, "will tell us a story." 

The little dark man stopped his work, but did not move 
or look up. No one seemed to have heard the chief 
speak. Some of the little children still slept on with 
their heads against their mothers' knees. 

Again Ommalik looked about him and said, "Ungukuk 
will tell us a story." 

Again there was silence, and the boy in the far corner 
went on mending his fish net. At last, after five or six 
minutes had passed, Ungukuk raised his head and peered 
into the dark faces about him. In a monotonous, sing- 
song voice, he began the following story: 




^— IVANGO OR THE LOST SISTER 



Long ago, in a village in the Far North, there lived 
a young man named Ivango. He was the oldest of the 
family and had four brothers and a little sister, eleven 
or twelve years old. 

One clear spring evening, the little girl was playing 
out on the sand pit with some other children. They were 
playing "house," and on the beach near them was the 
huge skull of a whale. 

When they had finished making a toy house out of 
pieces of driftwood, Ivango's sister climbed to the top of 
the whale skull to rest. 

No sooner had she sat down, than suddenly the skull 
began to roll quickly toward the sea. It moved so fast 
and the child was so frightened that she just held on 
tight and screamed. 

All the little ones ran after her, adding their cries to 
hers, until the skull plunged into the waves, turned into 
a whale and, with the little girl still clinging to his back, 
swam away out of sight on the gray ocean. 

6 



Ivango or the Lost Sister 



The children ran out into the water as far as they 
could, calling to their little playmate, but soon she was 
gone from sight. A sad troop of weeping children ran 
to Ivango's igloo, to tell him what had happened. 

Ivango and his brothers were in despair, for they 
loved their sister very dearly, as indeed did every one 
in the village. 

That very night in the kasga they held a council as 
how best to find the little girl and bring her home again. 

Ivango called all the shamans or witch-doctors to his 
house and bade them sing, hoping that they would sing 
something about his lost sister, and where she had been 
taken ; but each one told him a different tale, so that he 
soon saw that they knew nothing at all about it. So he 
sent them all away again. 

Now there was one woman among his neighbors, who 
was very wise, although not a sorceress. This woman 
could sing about many things that no one else knew, so 
Ivango sent for her and told her to sing. 

After a while she began. She told Ivango and his 
brothers that the whale had taken their sister to a far off 
country. This country, she said, was guarded by two 
great cliffs of solid rock, which could open wide apart 
and then come together again with a crash like thunder, 
crushing to death any living creature daring to venture 
between. 

Ivango asked her what they must do to rescue their 



8 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

sister. She answered, ''You must make a skin boat so 
swift that it will go faster than the swiftest bird can fly. 
When the boat is finished, kill a young seal and take it 
with you. When all is ready, I will go with you to tell 
you what to do." 

They thanked the woman very much and went to work 
to make the boat as soon as it was daylight. They worked 
as quickly as they could, for they were very anxious to 
rescue their sister. When they had finished, they took 
the boat down to the shore, and waited for a bird to come 
along. Presently they saw a beautiful gray gull with a 
white breast, sailing gracefully through the sky. They 
got into the boat and paddled along as fast as they could, 
but the gull was soon far ahead of them and they could 
not catch up with it at all. This was a dreadful disap- 
pointment, for it meant a long delay. They came back to 
land very much discouraged, but Ivango said, "We must 
not lose heart so easily. Let us go to work at once and 
take more care this time that we are doing our very best. 
It does not pay to be in too much of a hurry." 

So they started making another boat, and this time 
they worked very carefully, for they must not fail a sec- 
ond time. They made the frame out of the lightest 
driftwood and covered it with white whale skin. First 
they wet the skin to make it soft, then stretched it over 
the frame and tied it in place with rawhide. When the 
skin dried it became tight over the frame and was quite 



Ivango or the Lost Sister 



water-proof. Ivango, who was a very strong man, made 
a paddle for himself from the shoulder-bone of a whale. 
When they had finished the second boat, it looked fine 
and they all felt happy again ; but it had taken many pre- 
cious days to make. 

When all was ready they got into the boat and raced 
with the first gull that came along. This time they beat 
it easily, so they came back to shore to get their provi- 
sions and to kill a baby seal to take with them. 

The woman, who was waiting to go along too, told 
them that they must watch for a flock of eider ducks and 
follow them closely. Pretty soon a flock of eider ducks 
flew over. The brothers and the woman got quickly into 
the boat and paddled ofif as fast as they could. When 
the birds sank to rest, the men would stop paddling and 
rest, also, or eat. When the ducks flew, the boat traveled 
along as swiftly as though it too had wings. When the 
ducks slept, the men stopped paddling and also slept, 
while the woman kept watch. When the birds rose again 
to fly, the woman would awaken the men and take her 
turn at sleeping. 

They traveled this way for many days and nights, 
until at last they could hear a faint, rumbling noise like 
distant thunder. The sound lent renewed strength to 
Ivango's mighty paddle. So powerfully did he wield it 
that they went faster than the ducks, who were leading 
them straight to their sister. 



10 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Nearer and nearer they came to the strange sound, 
and louder and louder it grew, until it seemed as though 
mountains of rock were being hurled together by the 
hands of some mighty giant. 

Soon they could see two great cliffs drawing swiftly 
together through the ocean. They met with a mighty 
crash that seemed to shake the sea and sky. Ivango had 
trouble in keeping the boat upright, so high were the 
waves made by the rocks when they came together. 

As the boat came nearer, the cliffs slowly drew apart, 
and some sea parrots and seals tried to pass through the 
opening, but the rocks rushed together and the birds and 
seals were caught and crushed to death. 

Ivango felt his heart fail within him. Could they ever 
pass through alive, or must they all be crushed like the 
animals and birds? It did not seem possible that they 
could ever reach the other side of the cliffs. Oh ! if they 
only might fly over in the sky like the ducks were doing ! 
Then they would be safe. 

Ivango, however, had not time to think about it. He 
must act quickly, or the ducks soon would be out of sight 
and then they would have no one to show them the way 
to their sister. So when the cliffs parted again, Ivango 
wielded his mighty paddle and the little boat shot into the 
foaming pass. It seemed as though they must be drawn 
down into the whirling waters and be drowned, 
but Ivango gathered his strength into one mighty effort 



Ivango or the Lost Sister 11 

just as the towering walls started to come together, and 
when they met with a deafening roar, Ivango and his 
little boat were safe in the quiet waters beyond. 

At last they had reached their journey's end and 
passed safely through the great danger. How happy 
and thankful they were to leave the menacing rocks 
behind! 

They landed near a sandy cliff and walked carefully 
behind one another so as to make only one track in the 
sand with their mukluks. Their mukluks are their seal 
boots. Then they dug a hole in the ground, put the boat 
in it and hid. 

The next day while Ivango was peeping out of the 
hole, he saw a man walking toward the cliff from the 
opposite direction from which they had come. When he 
reached the footprints on the sand, which looked as 
though only one person had walked up from the beach, 
he stopped and examined them carefully for a long time, 
then, jumping over, so as not to step on them, he went 
his way. After a while the man came back. This time 
he did not stop, but jumped over the footprints and went 
on. On his back he was carrying a lot of birds. 

Now one of Ivango's brothers was very brave and 
wanted to jump out to kill that man and take the birds, 
but Ivango would not let him. 

Soon another man came along, and seeing the track, 
stopped to examine it, then jumped over, just as the first 



12 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

man had done. When he came back with all the birds he 
could carry, the brave brother could wait no longer. They 
were all hungry and tired and wanted the birds for food, 
so he sprang out and captured the man and hid him back 
of the hole, then they all had those fine birds to eat. 

In the morning, being rested and refreshed, Ivango 
and his brothers got into their boat and paddled in the 
direction from which the men had come walking along 
the beach. 

Soon they saw a village in the center of which stood a 
large igloo. 

Ivango and the brothers felt sure their sister must be 
there, so Ivango went to the door of the igloo and 
entered. Sitting on a big white bear skin on the floor 
was his sister, looking very sad and lonely. 

When she saw Ivango she sprang up joyously, but 
quickly put her finger to her lips, which meant, "Be 
quiet!" and whispered to Ivango, "O Brother, you 
should not have come for me. The whale man is waiting 
to kill you !" 

She looked terribly frightened, but Ivango comforted 
her, saying, "That's all right. Sister. We came for you 
and will die if we have to." 

Before long, they heard the whale man coming in. 
He pretended to be a kind man and very polite, but 
Ivango knew better than to believe him. The whale man 
could not fool Ivango. 



Ivango or the Lost Sister 13 

After a little while, the whale man told Ivango to 
fetch his brothers to eat supper with them, and the 
brothers came. The whale man gave them a good sup- 
per with plenty to eat, but they watched carefully, for 
they knew that he was just waiting for a chance to do 
them some harm. 

When night came the whale man suggested that they 
play all sorts of games. Ivango beat him every time, 
and he did not seem to like that at all. 

The next morning he took them out to see a big ditch 
that had been dug during the night. All the men of the 
village were bringing logs of wood and pokes (skin 
bags) of oil to the ditch. 

The whale man called Ivango and told him to look 
down into the ditch, and while he was looking gave him 
a shove. Ivango, taken by surprise, lost his balance 
and fell in. 

Down went Ivango into the deep dark hole. When he 
reached the bottom he stood still and felt the sides of 
the ditch all about him, until suddenly his hands came 
upon a great stone embedded in the earth on one side of 
the hole. Digging quickly into the earth with his fingers, 
he dragged out the huge stone and found a deep hole in 
the earth back of it. Into this hole he crept, pulling the 
stone into place after him. Outside, the whale man 
built a big fire with logs and oil and shoved it into the 
pit, thinking that Ivango would be burned up; but 



14 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Ivango was safe behind the rock, and the fire never even 
singed his mukkiks. When the flames had died down 
and there was nothing left but ashes, he crept out from 
his hiding-place and called for some one to let down a 
rope for him to climb up by. Soon he saw the rope com- 
ing down. It was made of walrus hide such as is used 
for lashing boats. Ivango took hold of the end of the 
rope and his brothers pulled him out. 

The whale man stood there looking much surprised 
to see him come out unharmed, and Ivango, springing 
upon him, hurled him into the pit. Then turning to the 
people, Ivango said, "If this man is unkind to you, bring 
some more wood and oil and we will burn him up. If he 
is good to you, let down the rope again and pull him out 
after we have gone away." 

"No, no !" they shouted loudly. "We do not want to 
pull him out. He is not good to us at all, but very wicked 
and cruel. Let us burn him up!" and they all ran to 
bring more wood and oil, much more than before and 
made a great fire themselves and threw it into the pit 
before Ivango could stop them. 

Ivango and the brothers and their little sister hurried 
down to the sea, where the woman was waiting for them 
with the boat, and started off for home as fast as they 
could paddle. 

This time they passed through the moving cliffs with- 
out fear or trouble, but no sooner had the cliffs closed 



Ivango or the Lost Sister 15 

together behind them, than a big white whale rose to the 
top of the water and pursued them. 

Although they could make the boat go as fast as the 
swiftest bird, the whale was faster than they and was 
getting very close. Just as the monster rose beside them, 
the woman cut off the right flipper from the seal they 
had brought with them and threw it to the whale, which 
stopped to eat. This gave them time to get quite far 
ahead; but after the whale had finished eating he soon 
caught up with them. Then the woman threw out the 
left flipper. Again the whale stopped to eat, and again 
caught up with them, but they were nearly home, so they 
threw over the rest of the seal and paddled to shore. 
When they landed the whale hurried after them so fast 
that he swam right up on the beach, where they killed 
him and cut him up for meat. 

The people of the village crowded about to welcome 
Ivango and his brothers and the little lost sister, and 
they all had a fine feast of the meat of the whale. 

They lived happily after that and Ivango made many 
presents to the good woman who had helped them to find 
their sister, so that she was never allowed to want for 
anything all her life long. 

When Nugukuk had come to the end of the story, he 
raised his eyes to the face of the chief. "And so is the 
winter shortened," said Nugukuk solemnly. For that 
is the way they bring their story-telling to an end. 



16 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

After that the father and the Httle boy and girl came 
very often to the kasga and heard different men of the 
village tell their wonderful tales, until they had heard all 
of the following stories. Perhaps next winter they will 
go back to hear some more. 




THE ROBIN, 
THE CROW 
AND THE FOX 



A robin had its nest in a tree, and there were six 
pretty bhie eggs in the nest. 

After a while the eggs broke open and out came six 
baby robins. 

The father robin, whose name was Kaytak, thought 
them the most beautiful birds in the world, and brought 
them fine worms and little bugs, and watched over them 
very carefully. 

One day a red fox came by, and looking up into the 
tree, saw Kaytak standing by his nest. 

"Hey, Robin," called the fox, 'T see you up there." 

"What do you want?" said the robin. 

"Give me one of your little birds for breakfast," said 
the fox. 

"No, indeed," said the robin. ''I will not give you 
one of my babies." 

"Well," said Red Fox, "you say *no.' If you don't 
drop down one to me this minute, I will take them all." 

"You cannot get them," said the robin. 

17 




'Looking up into the tree, saw Kaytak standing by his nest" 



18 



The Robin, the Crow and the Fox 19 

"Indeed I can," said Red Fox. "I have an ax, and 
with my ax I will cut that tree down and then eat up all 
your little robins." 

When the robin heard that he was terribly frightened. 
Then, rather than lose all his babies, he took one of them 
in his beak and dropped it down to the fox, who grabbed 
the little bird and ran away. After that Red Fox came 
back twice and did as before, the poor father robin being 
afraid to refuse to do what was asked. Trembling with 
fright and very sad, the poor bird looked about for some 
one to help him. The only living thing in sight was a 
crow flying by, and he called to him for help. The crow 
flew down into the tree and said, "What is it you want?" 

Then the robin told him all about the wicked red fox, 
and how there were only three baby robins left, and that 
he feared the fox would get them all. 

The crow laughed. "Haw, haw ! Red Fox thinks he 
is smart, but he is really foolish. He fooled you, though. 
He really has no ax, and he could not cut down this tree. 
When he comes again, you say to him, T will give you 
no more of my baby birds. You have no ax.' If he 
says, 'Who told you that?' you say, 'Crow told me,' " 
and the crow flew away. 

The next day Red Fox came back to the tree and 
demanded a little bird for his breakfast. 

"No, no, Mr. Red Fox," said the robin. "No little 
bird any more for you out of my nest." 



20 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

"You had better give me one quick," said the fox, "or 
I will chop the tree right down and eat them all." But 
the robin felt very safe and saucy now, so he sang a 
little song and said, "No, you won't chop down this tree, 
because you haven't any ax, and you are not as smart as 
you think you are, only foolish." 

"Who told you all that stuff?" asked the fox angrily. 

The robin sang another teasing song, then said, 
"Crow told me all that — about the ax and the 'foolish' 
and everything. So you had better get away, for you 
get no more of my babies." 

Then the red fox was very angry indeed and went 
off swearing he would get even with the crow for de- 
priving him of the tender baby robins for breakfast and 
calling him "foolish." He vowed he would find that 
crow and kill him. 

Pretty soon the summer had passed, and winter with 
its short dark days had come. 

One cold, stormy morning Red Fox was walking 
about, wondering how he could catch that crow. After 
thinking about it for a long time, he said, "I know what 
I will do!" So he lay down in the snow and played 
"dead," for he knew that crows like to pick at dead 
animals. 

After a while the crow came flying about, looking for 
food. He spied the red fox lying there, and slowly flew 
down nearby. At first he was afraid the fox was not 



The Robin, the Crow and the Fox 21 

really dead, but the fox lay very still. Then the crow 
touched the fox a little with his beak. The fox did not 
move, and the crow grew bolder. 

*'He is really dead," said the crow, "and I will go 
around and have a look at his eyes." 

He walked around the fox and started to peck his 
eyes, but when he came near the head. Red Fox opened 
his big mouth and snapped, and snapped the crow in it, 
tight as a trap. 

Crow thought he would die of fright before the fox 
got a chance to eat him, he was so scared, but Red Fox 
started up the mountain with Crow in his mouth. 

Then Crow gathered his wits together in spite of his 
terror, and tried to think of some way he could get out 
of Red Fox's mouth. "If I can only make him open his 
mouth to talk," thought Crow, "then I can get out." So 
he said, "O Fox, I know you are going to eat me, but I 
pray you tell me one thing before I die. Which way is 
the wind blowing?" 

"West wind," said the fox, and opened his mouth very 
wide to say "West." 

Out flew Mr. Crow as fast as he could, much to the 
surprise of Red Fox. 

As he flew away the crow lingered a little over the 
head of Red Fox. "Haw, haw, Mr. Fox," laughed he, 
"haw, haw! I saved myself from your mouth. You 
cannot fool me. No animal can fool me." Then he 



22 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

flew off flapping his wings and laughing "Haw, haw!" 
Red Fox slunk away with his tail dragging on the 
ground. He was very much ashamed of how the crow 
had fooled him twice, and he did not like to be beaten, 
for he and Crow are considered the two smartest 
animals at trickery and deceit; but no one can beat the 
crow. 




THE PROUD MOUSE 



There was once a mouse who thought a great deal of 
himself and was always longing for a chance to do 
something which would show how great he was. 

One night while he was asleep in a corner of the 
kasga, under the shelf, he was startled by a strange 
noise and woke up with a jump. He looked about him, 
but could see nothing; then he crept very quietly toward 
the door, and there he saw a great fire burning. 

"Now I am going to be burned up," said the mouse. 
"What shall I do to save myself?" 

The fire was growing bigger and brighter every 
minute, and in despair he gave up all hope of getting 
out of the door, for he could never pass through those 
terrible flames. He sat down and began to think and 
think what he had better do. 

"Well," he thought, "I will burn up if I stay in here, 
so I might as well try to get out. If the fire burns me 
while I am getting out, I can't help it." 

Then he made a dash through the flames to the door. 

23 



24 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

He was soon out, but he was much surprised that he did 
not feel burned at all. He looked himself over very 
carefully but his fur was not even singed. 

"Now I know that I am very great indeed, because 
fire does not burn me," said the mouse, and he walked 
about proudly whisking his little tail and thinking how 
great he was; then he looked back at the kasga, and saw 
that there was really no fire at all. What he had taken 
for fire was just the sunshine at the door. The proud 
mouse felt very much ashamed and said, "What a poor 
fool I am ! What can I do now to show that I am really 
great?" 

He looked about for a long time. At last he said, "I 
know what I shall do. I shall jump over that high 
bank." 

So he started to walk to the bank, and when he got 
there, he looked up, and it seemed very high indeed. 

"If I jump over this bank," said he, "I shall be great." 

He ran, and then sprang as high as he could into the 
air, and came down on top of the bank. 

"Surely I am great now, since I can jump so high." 
When he looked back he saw that the bank was not high 
at all, only a little heap of sand. 

"Shame on me !" groaned the mouse. "Now I must do 
something this time. I shall swim across that great lake." 

He started for the lake and at last, after walking a 
long time, he got there. 



The Proud Mouse 25 

"That lake is very big," he thought, for he could see 
only part way across. 

Then the little mouse began to feel proud once more. 

*Tf I swim across that lake, all the animals will call 
me great." 

He swam, and he swam, and it took him all day to 
swim over. Before he reached the other side, he was 
so tired he could only swim very slowly. Looking back, 
he saw all kinds of fishes on his tail. He shook them 
off, and at last he reached land. 

"Now," thought he, "I am really great, for I swam 
across that lake;" and he lay down for a good rest. 
When he got up he looked proudly back to see the won- 
derful lake, and there was no lake at all. What he 
had thought was a big lake was only a man's footprint 
full of muddy water, that he had taken all day to cross, 
and the fishes he had seen on his tail were the little bugs 
swimming about in the mud-puddle. 

"Now, I am surely ashamed of myself!" he cried. 
But he would not give up trying to be great, though he 
was beginning to see that he was really not as great as 
he supposed. 

Far on the horizon, he saw something tall and slender. 

*T must go cut down that pole that reaches from earth 
to sky," said he, and off he started for the pole. When 
he reached it he walked all around the pole, looking up, 
but he could not see the top. 



26 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

"That high pole holds up the sky," thought he, "and 
if I cut it, the sky will fall down upon the earth, and 
everybody will be killed. I will cut that pole because I 
am ashamed of myself." 

First he dug a hole in the ground, to get into when the 
pole was cut. When the hole was finished he said, "I 
will do like this when the sky falls down," and he ran as 
fast as he could into the hole. He came out then and 
started to cut the pole with his sharp little teeth. 

He worked very hard, until at last the pole was cut, 
when he ran into the hole as fast as he could scamper, 
to listen for the falling of the pole. 

Said the mouse to himself, "Now the sky has come 
down and killed every living thing." 

Pretty soon he began to wonder how it would look 
w^ith the sky fallen down, and he peeped out of his hole ; 
but everything seemed to be the same as before. He 
looked up where the sky used to be, and there it still 
was, all blue and shining. Then he looked down at the 
pole on the ground, and saw that it was only a tall blade 
of grass. 

"Shame on me, shame on me! Now I am truly 
ashamed of myself. Because I am so ashamed of my- 
self, I will pack that great mountain across the tundra." 

So he journeyed to the mountain, and at last he got 
there. 

First he dug all around wnth his little claws, then he 



The Proud Mouse 27 

lifted one grain of sand and packed it over the tundra. 
Back and forth he went for many weary days, carrying 
a grain of sand at a time, until he had carried the whole 
mountain across. 

"Now," said the little mouse, no longer proud, "I 
know that no one can be great unless he is willing to 
work hard and patiently." 

So that is the way the mountain got there, far out 
over the tundra, and the little mouse was rewarded at 
last for his perseverance. 




THE CROW 

AND THE DAYLIGHT 

Long, long ago, when the world was new, there was 
no daylight in Alaska. It was dark all the time, and the 
people in Alaska were living in the dark, just doing the 
best they could. They used to quarrel about whether it 
was day or night. Half of the people slept while the 
other half worked; in fact, no one really knew when it 
was time to go to bed, or if in bed when to get up, 
because it was dark all of the time. 

In one village lived a crow. The people liked this crow 
because they thought him very wise; in fact he told 
them so himself ; so they let him live in their kasga. 

The crow used to talk a lot too, and tell of all the 
wonderful things he had seen and done, when he had 
spread his wings and flown away on his long journies to 
distant lands. 

The people of Alaska had no light but the flame of 
their seal-oil lamps. 

One evening the crow seemed very sad and did not 
speak at all. The people wondered what was the matter, 

28 



The Crow and the Daylight 29 

and felt sad too because they missed their lively crow, 
so they asked him: "Crow, what makes you so sad?" 

"I am sorry for the people of Alaska," said the crow, 
"because they have no daylight." 

"What is daylight ?" said they. "What is it like ? We 
have never heard of daylight." 

"Well," said the crow, "if you had daylight in Alaska 
you could go everywhere and see everything, even ani- 
mals from far away." 

This seemed very wonderful to them all, and they 
asked the crow if he would try to get them that "day- 
light." 

At first the crow refused all their entreaties. "I know 
where it is," said he, "but it would be too hard for me 
to get it here." 

Then they all crowded around and begged him to 
go to the place where daylight was and bring them 
some. 

Still the crow refused, and said he could not possibly 
get that light ; but they coaxed him nicely, and the chief 
said, "O Crow, you are so clever and so brave, we know 
you can do that." 

At last the crow said, "Very well, I will go." 

The next day he started on his journey. Of course 
it was dark, but it was not stormy, and when he had said 
goodby to all the people he spread his wings and flew 
away toward the East, for the sun comes from the East. 



30 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

He flew on and on in the dark, until his wings ached and 
he was very tired, but he never stopped. 

After many days he began to see a Httle bit, dimly at 
first, then more and more, until the sky was flooded 
with light. 

Perching on the branch of a tree to rest, he looked 
about him to see if he could find where the light came 
from. At last he saw that it was shining from a big 
snow house in a village nearby. 

Now in that snow house lived the chief of the village, 
and that chief had a daughter who was very beautiful. 
This daughter came out of the house every day to fetch 
water from the ice hole in the river; which is the only 
way the Eskimos can get fresh water in winter. After 
she had come out, the crow slipped off his skin and hid 
it in the entrance of the house : then he covered himself 
with dust, and said some magic words, which sounded 
something like this: 

''Ya-ka-ty, ta-ka-ty, na-ka-ty-0. 
Make me little that I won't show. 
Only a tiny speck of dust. 
No one will notice me, I trust." 

Then he hid on a sunbeam in a crack near the door, 
and waited for the chief's daughter. 

When she had filled her seal-skin water-bag, she came 
back from the river, and the crow, who looked like noth- 




'At last he saw that it was shining from a big snow house' 



31 



32 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

ing but a speck of dust floating on the sunbeam, lighted 
on her dress and passed with her through the door into 
the house where the dayhght came from. 

Inside, the place was very bright and sunny, and there 
was a dear little dark-eyed baby playing on the floor, 
on the skin of a polar bear which had recently been 
killed. 

That baby had a lot of little toys, carved out of wal- 
rus ivory. There were tiny dogs and foxes, and little 
walrus heads, and kayaks (Eskimo canoes). He kept 
putting the toys into an ivory box with a cover, then 
spilling them out again. 

The chief was watching the baby very proudly, but 
the little one did not seem satisfied with his toys. 

When the chief's daughter came in she stooped to 
pick the baby from the floor, and a little speck of dust 
drifted from her dress to the baby's ear. The dust was 
the crow, of course. 

The baby began to cry and fuss, and the chief said, 
"What you want?" and the crow whispered into his ear, 
"Ask for the daylight to play with." 

The baby asked for the daylight, and the chief told 
his daughter to give the baby a small, round daylight to 
play with. 

The woman unwound the rawhide string from his 
hunting bag and took out a small wooden chest covered 
with pictures, which told the story of the brave things 



The Crow and the Daylight 33 

the chief had done. From the chest she took a shining 
ball, and gave it to the child. 

The baby liked the shining ball, and played with it a 
long time ; but the crow wanted to get that daylight, so 
he whispered in the little one's ear to ask for a string to 
tie to his ball. They gave him a string, and tied the day- 
light to it for him ; then the chief and his daughter went 
out, leaving the door open behind them, much to the 
delight of Crow, who was waiting for just that chance. 

When the little boy got near to the door in his play, 
the crow whispered again in his ear, and told him to 
creep out into the entrance with his daylight. 

The baby did as the crow told him, and as he passed 
the spot where the crow's skin was hidden, the speck of 
dust slipped out of the child's ear, back into the crow's 
skin and the crow was himself again. Seizing the end 
of the string in his beak, away flew Mr. Crow, leaving 
the howling baby on the ground. 

The child's cries brought the chief and his daughter 
and all the people of the village rushing to the spot; and 
they saw the crow flying away with their precious day- 
light. 

In vain they tried to reach him with their arrows, but 
he was too quickly out of sight. 

When the crow came near the land of Alaska he 
thought he would try the daylight to see how it worked, 
so when he passed over the first dark village, he 



34 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

scratched a little bit of the brightness off, and it fell on 
the village and lighted it up beautifully. Then every 
village he came to he did the same thing, until at last he 
reached his home village, where he had started from. 
Hovering over it, he shattered the daylight into little 
bits, and scattered them far and wide. 

The people greeted him with shouts of delight. They 
were so happy they danced and sang, and prepared a 
great feast in his honor. They were so grateful to him 
they couldn't thank him enough for bringing that day- 
light. 

The crow told them that if he had taken the big day- 
light, it would never be dark in Alaska, even in winter, 
but he said that the big daylight would have been too 
heavy for him to carry. 

The people have always been thankful to the crow 
since then, and never try to kill him. 



.2zs?2^ 





THE ORPHAN BOY 

Long ago, in a big village on Shismarief Inlet, lived 
a chief who had one child, a daughter. 

The chief's brother died and left a little boy, without 
any one to take care of him, so the chief took the boy to 
live with him. 

The boy and girl were cousins, and they had very 
happy times playing together. 

One day they had been out making snowballs, and 
stopped to shake the snow off their parkas before com- 
ing into the house. The Eskimo parka is a sort of middy 
blouse with a hood attached to it. In winter these parkas 
are usually made of reindeer skin, with a big ruff of fur 
around the edge of the hood to protect the face. The 
best fur to trim the hood is that of the wolverine, for it 
does not collect moisture from the breath. 

The children stamped their feet and brushed the snow 
from each other with small flat ivory sticks shaped for 
that purpose. In doing this the boy broke the beautiful 
string of beads which the girl wore around her neck. 

35 



36 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Now these were very precious beads; and the boy was 
afraid of his uncle, and did not hke to tell what he had 
done, but he bravely took his little cousin by the hand 
and went into the house trembling with fear. Walking 
up to the chief he said, "Uncle, I am sorry but I broke 
the precious beads." 

His uncle was furious. "How did you do it?" he 
asked, and the boy told him, 

"Now," said the uncle, "I am going to kill you for 
that. Those beads were my sign of chief. Now you 
have broken the beads, the people will say I am no longer 
chief, and will make some one else chief instead of me. 
You will have to die." 

He took the boy out of the house and led him to the 
kasga. There were many people in the kasga, but he 
drove them all out; then he took ofif the little boy's 
clothes, and went away, leaving him all alone to die of 
cold and hunger. That cruel uncle closed the door, put- 
ting heavy pieces of wood against it, so that the little 
fellow could not push it open, and then went up to the 
top of the kasga, where he took the skin cover off from 
the round window hole, to let the cold air in. After 
that he went away. 

When left alone in the cold without any clothes on, 
the little fellow started to run quickly around and 
around on the floor to keep warm. 

Now in that village lived a man and wife who were 



The Orphan Boy 37 

very sad because they had no children of their own. 
These two people loved the little ones very dearly, and 
were good to all the children in the village ; and the chil- 
dren were very fond of them in return for all their 
kindness. 

Long after the chief had gone away from the kasga, 
and the little boy had run about until he was too tired to 
run any more, and could no longer keep warm, that kind 
man who loved little children came on top of the hut, put 
his head through the window hole, and called, "Hello," 
and the little boy answered, "Hello." 

The man said, "You are alive yet?" Then he put his 
head through the window hole and handed a bundle of 
things to the boy. 

"I have brought you some food and some water in a 
bag, a little oil and a good warm sleeping-bag. Put the 
sleeping-bag under the floor, and get into it and keep 
warm." 

When the kind man had gone away, the boy put the 
sleeping-bag through the hole which is in the middle of 
the floor of every kasga, then, after eating some of the 
food and drinking some of the water, he fell fast asleep 
inside the nice, warm bag. 

Early in the morning the boy crept out of the hole on 
to the floor, like a little rat without any fur, and began to 
run around and around again, to keep warm. It 
was still dark because the sun is lazy, way up there 



38 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

in Alaska, and gets up very late. It was cold, too, 
icy cold. 

With the first rays of daylight came the uncle's foot- 
steps on top of the kasga ; then the surprised and angry 
face peering down at the boy through the window hole. 

Now the chief had come up there expecting to find his 
newphew frozen stiff, and was not at all pleased to see 
him skipping about all bare and so lively. It made him 
more angry than ever, and he called down in a big, fierce 
voice, "You are alive yet?" as though he could not 
believe his own eyes. 

The boy looked up without a word, and kept on run- 
ning; then the uncle called him all kinds of names, and 
said, "You try to keep alive as hard as you can. This is 
the last day for you. I'll fix you." Then he went away. 

The boy crept back into his warm bag. When it was 
getting dark again, he heard some one at the window 
hole calling, "Hello." 

The boy answered, "Hello." Then the kind man said, 
"Listen, your uncle is determined to kill you. He sent 
for the shaman and told him that he must kill you 
tonight. I cannot save you this time, for the shaman is 
more powerful than I. You must try your best to save 
yourself." So saying, the kind man went away. 

It was night; dark, quiet and cold. The little boy 
stood shivering and wondering what was going to hap- 
pen to him. Suddenly he heard a sound, a strange rus- 



The Orphan Boy 39 

tling sound. He was terrified, and thought of what the 
kind man had told him about the shaman, who was very 
powerful, and knew all kinds of magic. 

The strange sound came nearer, and he could see by 
a light at the door that a big snake was coming near to 
him. Now, while there is a kind of water serpent in 
one part of the North, there are no real snakes in 
Alaska, so the boy had never seen one, and did not know 
what it was. 

The big snake hissed at him and said, 'T will eat 
you up." 

The boy was terribly frightened, but he was a brave 
little fellow, so he answered, ''All right, I am ready." 

All the time he was looking desperately about for a 
weapon of some sort ; but the only thing he saw was the 
skin of the flipper of a seal. This he pulled quickly onto 
his own right hand, which it fitted like a glove. 

"Come on, Snake, and eat me up," said he. 

The big snake opened his mouth very wide, and 
quickly the boy thrust his hand with the seal claws on it 
down the snake's long throat, and pulled out the snake's 
stomach. Such an angry hissing as there was! Then 
the snake glided away very fast. 

Early in the morning, knowing that his uncle would 
come to see if the shaman had killed him, the boy got out 
of his bag, and started to run around on the floor to keep 
warm. 



40 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Soon the uncle climbed to the top of the kasga and 
peered down through the window hole to see if the 
boy was there. When he saw his nephew running about, 
he was more angry than ever, and called down in a loud 
voice, "Try as hard as you can to live, I will kill you." 
Then the boy heard the footsteps going away over the 
snow, and crept back into the sleeping-bag. 

When it began to be dark, some one crept up to the 
window hole and said, "Hello." It was the kind man, 
and happy indeed was the poor little boy to hear the 
voice of his friend. 

The man was very much surprised to hear the boy's 
answering "Hello," and very much pleased, and said, 
"Last night, the wicked shaman transformed himself 
into a snake and went out. In the morning he came 
crawling back without his stomach, and died. You 
killed that shaman, I am sure. Now tonight your uncle 
sent for the very highest shaman of all, and told him 
he must kill you himself. I am afraid he wiU succeed 
this time, with his great magic. You must try your 
very best to save yourself any way." 

Leaving some food and water, the kind man went 
away, and the boy, shivering with cold and fright, crept 
back into his bag. 

Pretty soon he heard a great noise by the door, and 
there was a bigger snake than before; a real monster 
this time. My! How scared that poor little boy was! 



The Orphan Boy 41 

He looked about for a weapon to fight the snake with, 
but there was none. 

Nearer and nearer came the horrible creature, with 
his mouth wide open. 

Then the boy's eyes fell upon the big stone lamp. It 
was very heavy, but he took it in his hands and went 
right up to the snake. 

"If you are going to eat me, Snake," he said, "open 
your mouth as wide as you can, and swallow me quick." 

The snake hissed loudly, and opened his mouth very 
wide, and the boy threw the lamp right down the mon- 
ster's throat. When the snake had swallowed the lamp, 
he thought it was the boy and went out. After that the 
boy got into the bag as before and slept until morning. 

As soon as it was daylight the chief came to see if 
the shaman had obeyed his command. He looked down 
through the window and saw the boy standing there 
looking up at him. He surely was surprised. 

"How dare you be alive?" said he. "This is the last 
day for you anyway. If the shaman can't kill you, I 
will do it myself." 

Long after the uncle had gone, when it began to be 
dark, some one came to the window hole and shouted, 
"Hello !" It was his friend, and how happy it made the 
little boy to hear that kind voice! 

"I am thankful that you are alive," said the voice. 
"When the shaman came back last night, he said he had 



42 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

something heavy inside of him, and this morning he was 
dead. I am sure you killed the wicked shaman, but I 
fear you will be dead tomorrow yourself. Your uncle 
has told every man to try to kill you, but I brought you a 
little spear, and a bow, and a crown; also a warm parka, 
and some oil. When you put on your clothes, take some 
of this oil and grease yourself all over, then take some 
coals from one of the lamps and blacken your face. 
When you have done this, sit still until your uncle calls 
you; then go out." 

After saying this and giving him the things, the man 
went away, and the boy was alone again; but this time 
he felt more hopeful, for did he not have a spear and a 
bow? And had he not a nice warm parka to put on? 
Then, too, he was going to get out, anything was 
better than staying there alone in the dark and cold. 

In the morning the boy got up and put on his clothes, 
which fit as though made for him, and which felt so 
good and warm after having had no clothes at all for 
such a long time. He tried the little bow, and that was 
just the right size for him, too. When he had blackened 
his face, and put on the little crown, he sat down to wait 
for the chief. 

He did not have long to wait. Pretty soon he heard 
the crunch , crunch, of footsteps coming over the snow; 
then the cruel voice of his uncle calling him to come out. 

Now the little fellow knew that he was going through 



The Orphan Boy 43 

that door to be killed, but he took his spear and his bow, 
and went out as bravely as any man. 

When he got outside he saw his uncle standing by the 
door with a big spear, and a crowd of people armed 
with spears and bows, all waiting to kill one little boy. 

As soon as they saw him they raised a great howl, 
and hurled their spears at him and shot their arrows; 
but the weapons struck the oily surface of his parka and 
glanced aside without harming him at all. Then the boy 
hurled his spear at his uncle with all his might. It 
struck deep into his flesh, and the wicked man went off, 
howling like a dog, and never came back; for which 
every one was sincerely thankful. 

After that the boy heard some one calling, and look- 
ing up he saw the kind man and his wife standing on 
the roof of their igloo, and they were shouting, "Let 
us make him chief! Let us make him chief!" 

Then the people who wanted to kill him when the 
wicked uncle was there, shouted, "He will be our chief 
now! He will be our chief !" So the boy became chief, 
and went to live with the kind man and his wife, and took 
them for his parents and was good to them, just as they 
had been good to him when he was in trouble. 

From that time on, the Eskimos have continued the 
custom of adopting little orphan children into their 
homes, and taking care of them; being very kind, and 
never like the wicked uncle at all. 



A RACE BETWEEN A REINDEER AND A 
TOM-COD 

Long ago somewhere on the shore of the Arctic 
Ocean a reindeer was taking a walk on the beach, enjoy- 
ing the fine air, and the sea salt of which the reindeer 
are so fond. As he passed a little point on the beach 
jutting out into the ocean, a fish called tom-cod said, 
"Well, Deer, how do you do?" The deer stopped 
to say good-morning to the fish, and asked him if he 
did not think it would be fun to run a race, and settle 
for all time which could go the fastest, a reindeer or a 
fish. 

The tom-cod thought about it for a while ; then said, 
'T am very busy today. Reindeer, but if you will come 
this time tomorrow morning, we shall race, and I shall 
beat you." 

"We shall see," said the deer, and went home. 

When the deer was out of sight the fish sent a message 
to all the tom-cods near that shore. He told them that 
the next morning he would have a race with a deer, and 
that they must answer the deer ever time he said, "Fish, 
are you there?" 

At sunrise the next day the deer came to the meeting- 
place and said, "Fish, are you there?" 

44 




"Stopped to say good-morning to the fish' 



45 



46 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

"Yes," answered the tom-cod, "I am waiting for 
you." 

The reindeer walked along the shore, but the tom-cod 
laughed to himself in fish language, and stayed quietly 
in the same place in the water. 

After walking about a mile, the reindeer said, "Fish, 
are you there?" 

Then another fish answered him, and said, "Yes, 
Reindeer, I am here, and I could go much faster if I did 
not have to wait for you." 

The reindeed hurried on a little faster. After a while 
he said, "Fish, are you there?" and still another fish 
answered him and said, "Yes, Reindeer, I am here, but 
I could go much faster if I did not have to wait for 
you." 

Then the reindeer, who thought it was the same fish 
all the time, ran as fast as the wind for a little way. 
When he stopped he asked, "Fish, are you there?' and 
still another fish answered, "O yes, I am here, but you 
are too slow for me." 

After that the deer fell exhausted on the beach and 
could run no more. So in that way the tom-cod won the 
race. 







WHY THEY HAVE : I • 

SUMMER ON ST- LAWRENCE ISLAND 

Long, long" ago, on St. Lawrence Island, there lived 
an old woman with her little grandson. They were very 
poor, so poor that the old woman had a hard time to 
feed and care for the boy. 

It was always cold and stormy, and sometimes they 
had almost nothing to eat for days at a time, because 
the wind blew so hard that the little boy could not stay 
out to catch tom-cods. 

One time when it had been stormy for many days, 
and the old grandmother was nearly dying of hunger, 
the little boy said to her, "Grandma, do you know wdiat 
makes storms like this?" 

"No," said she; "I only know that it is always cold 
and windy; only some days are worse than others. In 
some places they have sunshine, but never here. We 
will die of hunger and cold, but the wind will go on 
blowing just the same, and the snow will fall." 

The poor grandmother bowed her head, and the tears 
fell on her cheeks. 

47 



48 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

The boy said, "How is it, Grandma, that you live so 
long and do not know what makes storms ? I shall find 
out myself." 

The grandmother had to laugh, weak and sad as she 
was. "Why, how can you find out such things? You 
are only a little boy." 

He stood up beside her and tried to look very big and 
strong. 

"Grandma," said he, "I will teach you about storms 
myself, even if I am only a little boy. I will find out 
how to stop these storms." 

Then he asked her to mend his mukluks and his mit- 
tens, and to be sure there were no holes in his parka, for 
he was going out. 

The old woman said "No" at first, and begged him 
not to go, but seeing how determined he was she let 
him have his way, and got his things ready as he had 
asked her to do. 

When she had finished, the little fellow put the parka 
over his head, and with his high fur mukluks, and good 
mittens, he was well protected from the wind. 

Outside the igloo he stopped to watch the storm and 
which way the snow was drifting. After studying it 
for a while he said to himself, "I know now where the 
storm comes from," and putting his head down he took 
a long breath and started to walk against the wind, 
which was so strong that it took him a long time to make 



Summer on St. Lawrence Island 49 

any progress at all. The snow was thick and caused him 
to stop every few steps, and turn his back to the wind, 
to rest and get his breath. 

At last, when he began to despair of getting any 
farther, he saw something big and dark moving through 
the snow. It was a man, a very big man. He had on a 
fine parka with a big band of wolverine fur about the 
hood, that stood out from his face like the rays of the 
sun; only the little boy had never seen the sun, so he 
never thought of that. 

Luckily the man had his back to the boy, and of course 
could not hear him in such a howling wind. 

Back and forth, the man walked in the snow, intent 
upon his work, and not looking about him at all. 

The boy watched him closely, and saw that he had a 
spear, and a big shovel made from the shoulder-bone of 
a whale. First the man would break up a lot of snow 
with the spear, then he would scoop it up with his shovel, 
and with a great shout fling that snow wildly about in 
every direction. He seemed to be singing some kind 
of a wild song, and as he waved his shovel high in the 
air the snow flew thick and fast, whirling away in the 
great blast of wind made by the fanning of the shovel. 

The boy listened for the words of the song. They 
sounded something like this : 

"Whir-r-r-r away. 
Away blow. 



50 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Fill the day, 
With flying snow. 
Here you go. 
There you go. 
Blow, BLOW, BLOW !" 

At the last ''BLOW" he would give a great shout, 
and whirl around so fast, and fling the snow so hard, 
that he would almost lose his balance and fall over on 
the ground. 

How do you think the boy felt when he realized that 
he had all unexpectedly come upon the Storm Man him- 
self ? He was so excited he forgot to feel cold or tired, 
and began to wonder what he could do, he, a little boy, 
as his dear old grandmother had so rightly said, to stop 
the Storm Man from making any more storms. The 
man was very big and fierce and strong, and he himself 
was so very little, and had had so little to eat for a long 
time that he was not strong at all. 

Watching the Storm Man, he noticed that every time 
he got through chopping a lot of snow, he would drop 
the spear behind him, and stoop to pick up the shovel; 
so, waiting until the man was entirely absorbed in his 
shovel and his song, the little boy grabbed the big spear 
and scampered off across the snow for dear life. 

My! How heavy that spear did feel, and how the boy 
did run ! For in spite of his burden, he was so sure the 
Storm Man was after him that Fear lent wings to his 



Summer on St. Lawrence Island 51 

feet and he fairly flew over the snow toward his grand- 
mother's Httle house. 

Safely he reached the door, and fell breathless on the 
floor behind his grandmother with the spear in his hand. 
Almost at his heels, he heard the Storm Man shouting 
behind him, "Give me my spear ! Give me my spear !" 

The old woman roused herself, opened her eyes, and 
saw the boy. 

''My son," said she, "if you have anything belonging 
to that man, give it to him or he will kill us." 

''Grandmother, dear Grandmother, don't make me 
give back the spear, for that is the Storm Man, and if 
I give it back now, he will make a terrible big storm and 
we shall die anyhow. If I keep it he cannot make the 
storms." 

Then the man shouted louder than ever, "If you do 
not give me back my spear the sky will fall on you! 
You will be killed and every one on St. Lawrence Island 
will die, too; but if you give it back right away, it will 
be summer when you wake up tomorrow morning. The 
sun will be shining, and the salmon berries will be ripen- 
ing all about the house. Then go down to the river and 
set your nets, and they will quickly be full of fine salmon. 
Hurry! Hurry! Give me my spear!" 

The grandmother again said, "Boy, give that man 
his spear." 

The little boy was very angry, because he did not be- 



52 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

lieve the Storm Man, and thought they would be killed 
anyway, but he did not dare disobey the grandmother, 
so he took the spear to the fireplace and struck the point 
against the stone lamp to make it dull. When he had 
finished, he threw it out of the window hole, and called, 
"There is your spear. I know you are the Storm Man." 

The Storm Man only laughed, and said, "Konnu has 
sharpened my spear." Now "Konnu" was the boy's 
name. 

After that the grandmother and the boy heard the 
howling song of the Storm Man grow fainter and fainter 
in the distance, until they both fell asleep to its soothing 
sound. 

Early in the morning the boy was awakened by a 
strange dazzling light in his eyes. It was the sun. True 
to his word, the Storm Man had let the summer come. 

Outside it was warm. Sunshine was everywhere, 
making everything look bright and beautiful. The 
ground about the house was thick with ripening salmon 
berries, and the sky was blue, with little white pufify 
clouds floating over it. 

Konnu took his nets down to the river, and saw the 
salmon swimming lazily about. His heart was full of 
joy, for he knew the Storm Man had kept his word, that 
this was summer, and they need not be hungry and cold 
any more. 











THE LOST SON 



Long ago, in a village on the Arctic coast of Alaska, 
there lived a man and his wife, with their only son. 

The boy was clever and brave, and a good hunter. 
Every spring he went out with his harpoon and killed 
a whale, but he did not worship the whales as his father 
did. The father thought the whales had great power, 
and he used to pray to them. 

One winter while the young man was out hunting, 
the ice broke and drifted away from land, leaving him 
on the ice floe with a great expanse of shining sea be- 
tween himself and the shore. There was no way for 
him to reach land, and, to make matters worse, a storm 
arose, and the wind blew and howled, and the waves 
grew so big that they looked like mountains. Pretty 
soon the ice was all broken up, so that he found himself 
on a very small, high iceberg. He had scarcely room 
to turn around, and all night long he clung there, 
cramped up and cold. 

When daylight came again, and he saw that he was 

53 



54 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

all alone on a little piece of ice, floating on a big black 
ocean, without even a glimpse of land to cheer him, he 
fell into deep despair. Very miserably he waited there, 
looking out over the sea mitil night began to fall once 
more ; then he could bear it no longer. Taking his hunt- 
ing knife from its sheath, he made ready to kill himself. 
As he raised the knife, a hand from above seized his 
hand, and a great voice spoke in his heart, saying, "You 
must not do that. It is wrong." On hearing this, he 
dropped the knife in the water, and suddenly he felt 
himself being drawn up swiftly through the air. When 
he recovered his breath and looked about him, he was in 
heaven. It was very light, and he was not cold or sad 
any more. 

While he stood there enjoying the balmy air and warm 
sunshine, a kind man came along, and took him to his 
home, where he was as well fed and treated as by a lov- 
ing father. 

Now his own father and mother were in great distress, 
and scarcely knew how to live without him. The neigh- 
bors were sorry for them, and every one in the village 
spoke kindly of the young man, whom they looked upon 
as lost forever. 

At the far end of the village, in a tiny hut, there lived 
an old woman with her little granddaughter. 

One day the little girl said, ''Grandma, I wish I might 
bring back that young man." 



The Lost Son 55 



"Indeed, my dear, I wish so too," answered the old 
woman ; but how could one little girl do what all the wise 
people in the village have not been able to accomplish?" 

But the little girl kept on thinking about it and wish- 
ing she could bring the young man back to his unhappy 
parents ; until at last she could think of nothing else, and 
could neither eat nor sleep for thinking of it. 

One night, while her grandmother slept, the little 
girl lay looking at the old stone lamp, dreaming of the 
sadness that had come over her village because the boy, 
whom they all loved, was lost. She fancied the flicker- 
ing light, from its wick of moss, winked at her, as much 
as to say, "I know something you would like to know." 
So she began to talk to it in a low voice, that she might 
not awaken her grandmother. ''Lamp, dear Lamp, can't 
you go and find that boy ? Your eyes are so bright, and 
you look so wise. Won't you please go and find him?" 

She sat up on her little heels, with her hands clasped, 
speaking eagerly. 

The old grandmother stirred uneasily among her bear 
skins on the floor. The lamp twinkled and flickered, 
then, trembling a little, began to hop with short quick 
hops at first, then higher and higher, until at last, wav- 
ing a bright goodby to her, the little lamp shot right out 
through the hole that is in the roof of every Eskimo 
house, and went straight up to heaven to get the young- 
man, and bring him home. 



56 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

"O Grandmother!" cried the little girl. "Our lamp 
has gone after him." 

The grandmother shivered, for without the lamp 
which supplied their heat and light, she felt cold. Draw- 
ing the little girl down beside her, she snuggled under 
the big fur rugs and went to sleep. 

When the lamp reached heaven it went straight to the 
house where the young man was. It hopped so quickly 
through the ventilator, into the house, that some of the 
oil spilled out on the floor. The man who lived there 
tried to grab it, but each time he thought he had caught 
it, the lamp slipped from his fingers, and hopped away 
through the air, beckoning to the young man to come. 
Quickly jumping into the bowl of the lamp, the boy sat 
there and was carried straight down to the little girl. 

When the little girl opened her eyes in the morning, 
she was disappointed to see the old lamp twinkling away 
in its accustomed place, looking very innocent indeed. 
The child thought it must have been a dream. 
Then a shadow came between her and the lamp, and she 
saw the boy standing, smiling down at her and the 
grandmother, and she knew that her dream had come 
true. 

When they had recovered from their astonishment, 
and the boy had asked all about his parents and his 
friends, they talked a long while together and arranged 
a fine plan to give his father and mother a surprise. 



The Lost Son 57 



The grandmother was to go to his house at once and 
ask his parents to give her some clothes, for those he 
had on were shabby and soiled, but she was to make 
believe that she wanted them for herself. 

When the old woman reached the boy's home, the 
parents welcomed her very kindly and asked what they 
could do for her. 

''Let me have some of your son's clothes," said she. 
"My little granddaughter and I are very poor, and the 
weather is cold." 

"Alas!" sighed the man. "Our son is lost to us, and 
I fear he will not want his clothes any more. He would 
be happy to know that they were of use to you." 

They gave her the very best parka and mukluks the 
boy had, also some food. She thanked them heartily, 
and went home as fast as she could, for the sight of 
their sad faces made her feel that no time must be lost 
in making them happy again. 

By the time the boy was dressed, and they had all had 
some food, it was evening. Then the two children ran 
hand in hand to the kasga, where the people were gath- 
ering to sing songs and play games. 

The little girl went in first, and asked if she too 
might sing. They gave her a drum, and she sang a 
wonderful song, all about a dream she had had, which 
really was the story of how the lamp had found the boy 
and brought him home. 



58 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

The sad parents were there, and the mother began to 
cry for her son, and the father said, *T wish that dream 
w^ould come true!" 

Just as he said this, the boy gave a shout and rushed 
into the room. You can imagine how surprised they all 
were, and how happy too. 

Then the little girl slipped quietly out and went home 
with a shining face. 

"Grandmother," said she, 'T can sleep well tonight, 
for I know everybody is glad again." 

The next day the boy came to the grandmother, and 
asked her and her granddaughter to come to live at his 
home with his father and mother. 

They went with him, and after that they were always 
happy and comfortable, for the boy became a famous 
hunter, and kept them all supplied with good things to 
eat, and plenty of fur skins to keep them warm. 

The little girl grew big, and the old grandmother 
bossed them all. Grandmothers always do in Eskimo 
Land. 



THE CROW AND THE OWL 

Long ago, when crows were white, a crow and an owl 
sat on a log, talking together. 

The crow said he did not like his color, and the owl 
said, 'T wish I had some pretty spots on my back." 

"So do I," said the crow. "Let us paint each other 
with black oil from the lamp." 

'To-whit, to-whoo," said the owl. "What fun that 
would be!" ^ 

Now when a clay lamp gets old there is a lot of thick 
black oil in the bottom of it. The Eskimos make chew- 
ing-gum out of this oil. 

The crow took one of the owl's feathers dipped it into 
the oil, and painted beautiful black spots all over the 
owl's body. He did it very well and made the owl look 
fine. 

Then came the owl's turn to paint the crow. At first 
he liked to do it, and made such pretty round spots that 
the crow began to feel very proud indeed ; but before he 
was half through, the owl got tired of working so hard; 
and taking the lamp, he turned it upside down, and 
poured the black oil all over the crow. 

How angry that crow was when he found himself 
black all over ! He tried his best to get it off, but it was 
no use. The black stuck fast. 

Ever since then, the crow has been the blackest of all 
birds. 

59 




"Poured the black oil all over the crow" 



60 





// 



^M^ 



THE RUNNING STICK !l_ 



Long ago, in the village of Na-ki-a-ki-a-mute, there 
lived a strong man, or chief, with his wife, to whom he 
was very devoted. They had no children, but among 
their neighbors was a little girl who lived in a tiny 
house with her grandmother. These two were very 
poor, but the chief was rich, and the chief's wife loved 
the little girl and had her often with her. Indeed the 
child used to come every day to fetch water for the 
chief's wife, from the water hole through the ice in the 
river nearby. 

One day the man went off hunting, and when he cam.e 
back with a fine fat seal for their food his wife was 
gone. He called and called her, but she did not answer. 
Then he went to all his neighbors seeking her, but no 
one had seen her, and no trace of her could he find any- 
where. There was not even a footprint to show in which 
direction she had gone. 

The poor man was nearly crazy with grief and anger, 
for he felt sure some one must have taken his wife 

61 



62 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

away from him. He became fierce and sullen, brooding 
over his troubles and loneliness, and would speak to no 
one. In fact no one dared to come near him for fear of 
being killed. 

All day long he would sit out in front of his house 
with his big bow and quiver full of arrows, watching; 
and at night he did not sleep, nor could he eat. 

One day the old grandmother said to the little girl, ''I 
am sorry for that poor man ; he is so unhappy. You go 
to him and ask him to come and eat with us. His wife 
loved you. He will not hurt you. Try to bring him back 
with you." 

Very timidly the little girl obeyed, for in her heart 
she was afraid to go. When she got near the chief's 
house she stopped and felt like turning back, for he sat 
there looking so fierce and gloomy that she was fright- 
ened; but when he saw the child standing there he 
motioned to her to come. Then she felt no longer afraid, 
but went and sat beside him, and told him what her 
grandmother had said. The chief answered nothing, 
but when she slipped her little hand in his, he got up and 
went with her to her home, where the old woman had 
already cooked him a fine supper of reindeer meat. 

The poor man had not eaten for so long that he was 
starving, and when he had finished all the meat the old 
woman had, he sent the little girl to his own house to get 
some more. 



The Running Stick 63 

As soon as the little one had gone out of the room, the 
grandmother said to him, ''I sent for you because you 
have been kind to us, and I believe I can help you to find 
your wife. You must make a good strong staff of drift- 
wood, then take this bunch of charms and tie it firmly 
to the stick," and she gave him a little bunch of charms. 
These charms were ivory animals and faces and some 
tufts of feathers from sea birds. 

Next she said that he must set the stick upright in the 
ground, in front of his house, very firmly, so that the 
wind could not blow it over. When he had done this 
he should go to bed and sleep. In the morning he must 
examine the stick carefully, and go in the direction in 
which the stick leaned. Wherever he stopped for the 
night he must set the stick up in the same way, and in 
the morning the stick would point in the direction he 
must follow to find his wife. 

"If you obey my instructions," said she, ''the stick will 
lead you straight to your wife." 

Then the little girl came in with some more reindeer 
meat, and the man ate until he was satisfied, and went 
home. 

As soon as he reached his house, he made a fine stafT, 
tied the charms to it and planted it firmly in the ground 
before the door. Then he went in, and rolling himself 
up in a big bear skin, fell asleep. 

He woke up in the morning feeling well rested, and 



64 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

more like himself than at any time since his wife's dis- 
appearance. It was late and the sun had already risen. 
He hurried out anxiously to look at his stick. It was 
bent directly toward the North, so he pulled it up and 
started on his journey, with the staff moving along 
before him. 

For two days and two nights he traveled without rest, 
having a hard time to keep up with that stick, which 
hopped along in front of him. Then, being tired, he 
stuck the staff into the ground and went to sleep. 

When he woke, the stick was again pointing North. 
This time it leaned over more than before. 

For three days and nights he traveled, then he slept, 
and in the morning his faithful staff was bending way 
over, still toward the North. 

"Now my wife cannot be very far away," he thought. 

That night he slept again, and when he awoke, the 
staff had leaned so far over that the tip almost touched 
the ground; so he felt sure he must be near his jour- 
ney's end. 

About noon, when the sun hung very round and very 
red, low down in the sky, he came to a huge snow house, 
the biggest house he had ever seen. Right by the house 
stood four posts close together, and on these posts was 
hung the skin of an enormous bird. 

Hiding himself among some willow bushes, he 
w'atched to see what would happen. 



The Runnine Stick 



^^ 



Prottv soon a \ory tall mar. came out of tb.o house 
and went to the posts. Climbing" up on thoiu. lie took 
the skin, piu it on. and tlew away over the sea. 

\Mien the bird niait was out of sight, our friend took 
his faithful stalt and went into the house. There lie 
found his wife, who was very happy to see him. 

"1 knew you would eome and tirid me."' she said. 
■"That terrible big bird earried me away in his elaws: 
that is why you eould not tind my footprints in the 
snow." 

Her husband wanted her to come home with him at 
once, but she told him that it would be better if she eould 
first see the bird man. who would eome back soon again. 
Her plan was to send the bird man on some far distant 
tlight. so that they might get away din^ing his absence. 
She gave her husb;ind some food. ar>d he wer^t back to 
his hiding-place to wait iov the bird man to come ar.d go. 

After a sliort time tb.e bird came back with a walrus 
in one claw and a seal in the other, bdying to the rack. 
he took otY the bird skin, luutg it up. and w era into the 
house. 

W hen he c:inie in, he fotrad the woman crying. "What 
do you wa.nt ?"" said he. 

"1 want a white whale ar.d a hump-back whale. I 
didn't want any seal. 1 am tired oi seal and walrus 
meat. I'oo-hoo!" and she howled and wailed dismally, 

"Only be quiet." said the bird man. "and 1 will get 



66 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

you what you want." And he came out again and, put- 
ting on his bird skin, once more flew out over the sea. 

When the bird was out of sight, the woman ran from 
the house to her husband, who put her on his back and 
started for home as fast as he could go. He was the 
swiftest runner in his village, and covered the ground 
pretty fast; but, after all, legs are not wings. It was 
not long before they met the bird man coming back with 
a whale in each of his talons. When he saw the man 
carrying the woman away on his back, the bird was very 
angry, and circled about in the air over their heads, 
calling out to them, "I shall kill you. First, however, I 
am going to take these two whales home, then I shall 
come back and kill you." And away he flew. 

The man ran as fast as he could, but just as they 
reached the banks of a big river the bird came in sight. 

The man and his \vif e dug a cave in the river bank, 
and hid in it while the bird flew by looking for them. 
Nowhere could the big bird find those two people, 
although he was sure they must be hiding somewhere 
nearby. Suddenly he circled about, and flew down to 
the water. "I shall set my great wing across the river 
like a dam, and the water will rise and drown them," 
cried he ; so he stretched his great wing across the river 
and the water rose over the wing, and crept nearer and 
nearer to where the man and his wife were hidden. 

The two poor people were in despair. They thought 



The Running Stick 67 

that surely they would be drowned, when suddenly the 
man remembered his father, who was a witch doctor, 
and some magic words came to his mind : 

"Kluk-a-luk. 

Muk-a-luk. 

puk-a-luk. 

Freeze up hard, 

Or you must run dry." 

He said these words over three times aloud. At that 
moment the water of the river began to freeze. It was 
the month called "Naz-ze-rak-sek" by the Eskimos, 
which means October. 

At last the river froze so hard and solid, that the 
bird's wing was frozen fast into the ice and he could not 
pull it out. Then the husband killed the wicked bird, 
and plucking one of the long feathers from its wing for 
a charm, took his wife safely home without any further 
trouble. 

They brought the old grandmother and the little girl 
to live with them, and they were all happy the whole 
winter long with the meat of the big bird for food. 




THE 

TREACHEROUS CROW 

AND HIS COUSIN, THE MINK ^=^^=--. 

Long ago, a crow and a mink lived together. The 
crow called the mink his cousin. They made a little 
cabin where there was a sand bar and willows. In sum- 
mer time when the weather was fine they played together 
on the sand bar, which was bigger than any sand pile 
any children ever had. 

One day they saw some dead salmon on the beach, 
and the tracks of a brown bear. 

The crow said to the mink, his cousin, "What shall 
we do if that brown bear comes around here?" 

The mink answered, "We cannot catch that bear. He 
is bigger and stronger than we are. He will kill us." 

Then the crow laughed, "Haw, haw! I know how to 
kill that bear ; it is easy. Cousin, you will go inside the 
dead salmon, and I will put it in the bear's track." 

"O no !" said the mink. "I am afraid. You go your- 
self into the salmon." 

But the crow was boss. "I do not wish to go into the 
salmon," said he. "You go yourself. I am bigger than 




--<><::r>- 



*The bear came around by the same track and saw the salmon' 



69 



70 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

you, and I have wings. I will put you into the salmon, 
and I will put the salmon in the bear's track, and don't 
you move one bit, even if you are scared. I will tell you 
what to do. If the bear comes, keep very still. If he 
opens his mouth to bite, you just jump down his throat, 
and go in as far as you can. Bite him hard inside, and 
then he will drop dead." 

The mink was terribly afraid, but the crow said, "I 
will help you. When the bear drops dead, I will run out 
of my hiding-place, and cut a little door in his side with 
my knife, and you will jump out. If you do that, we will 
live well and have lots of meat to eat all winter." 

The poor mink looked very sad indeed, but did not 
dare to refuse to do what the crow told him. 

"All right," said the mink, "I will do it, but I know 
that I shall die." 

The crow went to work to prepare the big fish. He 
skinned it nicely, and when it was ready, put his cousin, 
the mink, inside of it, and laid it where the bear track 
was. 

The mink was terribly frightened inside the salmon, 
because he knew the bear would eat him up. The crow 
hid among the willows and watched his cousin. 

After a while the bear came around by the same 
track, looking for a fish to eat, and saw the salmon. 
First he sniffed at it, and noticed that it smelled a little 
different, but very good. Then he sniffed again, and, 



The Treacherous Crow and His Cousin 71 



being very hungry, he opened his big mouth wide, and 
the mink popped right down his throat. Down he went, 
down as far as he could jump, biting hard all the time. 
The crow was watching from the willows, and pretty 
soon the bear danced aromid on his hind legs and fell to 
the ground. Quickly the crow flew to the bear, and with 
his little knife cut a door for the poor frightened mink 
to jump out of. 

"See," said the crow, "I told you it was easy to kill 
the big bear. Now we have killed him, we will have 
meat all winter, and will not have to go out to hunt in 
bad weather." 

The mink said nothing, but went to work to help the 
crow fix up the bear into fine steaks. 

They dried the meat and hung it up, and there was 
enough to feed the whole village. 

One night the crow said to the mink, "Cousin, once 
upon a time in the olden days people of one village used 
to invite the people of another village to come to a feast 
and dance. I should like to do that myself." 

"Why," said the mink, 'T have never heard of that 
before. I don't know what that would be like, but I 
should love to see it." 

"We will do it," said the crow. "We have plenty of 
fine bear meat for every one, and we will give a party. I 
will tell you what to do. Cousin, and tomorrow you will 
start, but you must do just what I tell you." 



72 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Then they went to sleep, and early in the morning, 
the crow sent his cousin to the sea. 

*'Yoii walk until you come to a village," said he, "but 
don't stop at that one; go right on until you come to a 
second village; pass that one also. When you come to 
the third village, stop, and the people will ask you where 
you come from. Say to them, 'I come from a big village. 
We have a chief in our village, and he has sent me to 
invite you all to his big dance.' If they ask you what 
kind of a chief you have, don't tell them it is a crow, 
because if you tell them that, no one will come. Just say, 
'We have a fine chief.' " 

When the crow had finished talking, the mink jumped 
on to the ice, and went toward the sea. He went on 
until he came to a village, but he did not stop at that one ; 
he passed it as his cousin had told him to do, and went 
on again. Then he came to the second village, but he 
passed that one too, and at last came to the third village. 
Here he stopped, and the people were happy when he 
gave them his cousin's invitation. 

Everybody in the village wanted to go to the feast, 
and the next morning they all started off. 

When they passed the first village, where the crow 
had told the mink not to stop, two people came out and 
asked if they might go also. 

The mink said, *'No, we do not want you." But they 
came anyway. 



The Treacherous Crow and His Cousin 73 

Just before dark the mink got home to the crow. 
What was his surprise to see a fine village, where he had 
left only a cabin the day before; and a lot of people 
coming out to meet him and his guests. 

The mink saw his crow cousin surrounded by a crowd 
of people, all dressed up in fine clothes, looking very fine 
indeed. The crow was so happy to see the mink coming 
with the people of the sea village that he started up a 
great shout. They all shouted loudly, and the crow, in 
his excitement, forgetting that he was a crow, tried to 
shout with them, but all he could say was "Caw, caw!" 

The two people from the first village, who had not 
been invited, were watching very closely to see what sort 
of people these were who gave this great feast, and 
when they heard the crow shouting, "Caw, caw," they 
called, "Look out, friends. We see that the chief of this 
village is a crow !" 

Then the crow spoke up and said, 'T am not a crow, 
people. Don't be afraid. I promise you a good time. 
We will dance tonight only, then I will send you home." 

Before the dance they had some races. The marten 
came first, then the wolf, then the lynx. The Arctic 
hare came fourth, and fifth, the fox. The Arctic 
hare could have won first prize if he had wanted to, but 
he kept sitting down every minute. One of the people, a 
muskrat, had not come back from the race when the 
dance started, and when he came in all hot and tired the 



74 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

people laughed and made fun of him. That made him 
so angry that he was in a great temper, but the crow 
said, "Don't you mind them; you are all right." So he 
felt better about it. 

Before the dance started, the crow stood up on top 
of the house, and called out, "People, I am going to do 
something fine for you. I am going to rub some oil 
on your eyes that will make you all see every animal 
when you go hunting. Last fall I killed a bear, and the 
oil is from that bear." 

At this the mink was in a terrible rage, because the 
crow did not tell them that it was he who had killed 
the bear, and he began to shout, "He lies, he lies ! He 
did not kill the bear. I killed it myself." 

Well, the crow was so embarrassed and surprised 
when he heard his cousin say this that he fell right down 
from the top of the house where he had been standing. 

The mink, too, was terribly sorry he had spoken so 
hastily, and he called out to the crow, "O dear Cousin, 
forgive me; I did not mean that. I was only jealous. 
People, listen to me. I did not kill the bear at all. My 
cousin told the truth. He really killed that bear." 

Then the crow was happy again, and flew back to his 
high perch, where he recovered his dignity. 

Then the people began to ask about the oil, and all 
stepped up to the crow in turn, and he put it on their 
eyes. 



The Treacherous Crow and His Cousin 75 

The two people from that first village were watching 
the crow all the time, and suddenly one of them jumped 
up and began to shout, "Stop, people! Stop! He is 
putting glue on your eyes!" 

There was great excitement, and the people tried to 
open their eyes, but could not, for their eyes were stuck 
together with glue. 

All at once salt water began to pour into the house, 
and every one rushed to get out of the door, but their 
eyes were glued, so they could not see the hole to go out. 

Now the crow took a big stick, and the mink one also, 
and all the crow's people armed themselves with big 
sticks, and killed all the people the mink had gone to sea 
to invite, and who turned out to be seals after all. 

Then the treacherous and tricky crow gave one of 
the seals to each of his own people and sent them home. 

This is how the crow got the name of being the 
trickiest of all the birds, and no animal really likes him, 
because they know they cannot trust him. 



GOOD AND BAD WEATHER 

Long ago, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, two 
Eskimo boys were walking from their own home to a 
far-away village. While they were going along, a ter- 
rible storm overtook them and they had to hold each 
other by the hand to keep from falling. Pretty soon the 
wind rose so high, and the snow fell so fast, they felt 
they could go no farther. In despair, they clung to each 
other, blinded by the snow, when a tremendous gust of 
wind suddenly caught them, and blew them against the 
side of a little snow house. How glad they were to 
find shelter ! 

Inside the house was an old woman, living all alone. 
She was very kind and invited them to sit down and 
rest; then she gave them something to eat, and told 
them that she was going out. 

"Do not look after me to see what I am doing," said 
she, ''or you will be sorry." 

She put on her parka and mukluks, and took her stone 
skin scraper in her hand and went out the door. 

The Eskimo women have a scraper which they use 
to scrape the flesh, or meat, from the skin of the animals 
they prepare for clothing. This scraper is somewhat 
the shape of a carpenter's plane. The blade is made of 
a sharp piece of stone. That was the kind of thing the 
old woman took out with her. 

76 



Good and Bad Weather 77 

The boys were devoured with curiosity, and after she 
had gone the oldest one said, "Let us go out and look at 
her." But the younger boy whispered, "No, no." He 
was afraid ; but his brother was determined to see what 
that old woman was doing out there with her knife, so 
he persuaded the little one to creep softly to the door 
with him, and peek out. 

Where do you think the old woman was ? And what 
do you think she was doing? Way up in the sky she sat, 
scraping away at the clouds. She had already scraped 
off half the clouds, and where she had scraped, the sky 
was as blue, as blue as could be, but the other half was 
still covered with thick black clouds. 

When she saw the two boys peeping at her, she let 
go of the sky and fell down. As she came into the house, 
the boys were sitting on the floor, just as she had left 
them, hoping she had not really seen them looking at her. 

"You rascals! You bad boys!" she cried, "You did 
just what I told you not to do. If you had not looked 
out at me, and made me fall off, I would have cleaned all 
the clouds away, and we should never have had any 
more storms. But alas! I cannot go up there again, 
and now we shall have both clear and cloudy weather." 

Ever since then it has been sometimes clear and some- 
times stormy, because the old woman had only had time 
to clean off one-half of the sky. 




HOW THE WHITE WHALES HAPPENED 



Long, long ago, on St. Lawrence Island, there lived 
with his grandmother a little blind orphan boy. He was 
so blind that he could not even see a ray of light. 

The grandmother was a wicked old witch, and treated 
him very badly. 

They w^re frightfully poor, and had to eat muskrats, 
for they had no one to go hunting food for them. 

One day the old woman came in very much excited 
because she had seen a polar bear with two cubs. Now 
you must understand that the bear cubs are the baby 
bears, and are nice and round and plump and juicy and 
covered with white fluffy fur. The grandmother 
smacked her lips at the thought of those delicious little 
bears. 

After grumbling about for a while, and scolding the 
boy because he could not see to go hunting, she handed 
him a strong bow made from driftwood and some fine 
arrows tipped with bone, and told him to go out and kill 
those bears. 

78 



How the White Whales Happened 79 

"But, Grandmother," said he, "how can I kill the 
bears when I cannot see to shoot them?" 

"Come out and I will show you." And she shoved 
him out of the house. 

They sat down outside and waited for Mother Bear 
to come by with her babies. 

The grandmother told the boy to hold the arrow 
pointed straight in front of him, and that she would 
tell him when to let it fly. 

They waited a long time for the bears to come, and 
just as he was getting so tired he feared he would drop 
the heavy bow, who should come sauntering slowly 
along but Mother Bear and her two frisky babies. Just 
as they passed the very spot at which the blind boy was 
aiming, his grandmother whispered, "Shoot!" and he 
let fly the arrow. One by one he killed the three bears 
in this way. 

Of course the poor little fellow could not see the 
bears at all and was not sure that he had killed them, but 
when he asked her the old witch would tell him nothing. 
She only scolded him and shoved him into the house. 

Saying that she was going to gather sticks for the 
fire, she took her big knife, with a green jade blade and 
walrus ivory handle, and went out to skin the bears. 
Having carefully removed the skins, she hung the meat 
to dry in the cache, a sort of high drying-frame, where 
no wild animal could get at it. 



80 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 



When dinner time came the old grandmother feasted 
greedily on bear steak, but she gave only lean muskrats 
to the hungry little boy. 

In the morning the little fellow crawled out on his 
hands and knees to search for willow weeds, which the 
Eskimos like to make tea from. They chew it too some- 
times. He had to feel his way very carefully so as not 
to hurt himself, for of course he could see nothing. 

While he was crawling along, reaching out with his 
hands for the willows, he heard something hopping 
lightly before him. 

A little twittering voice said, "Good-morning, boy." 

"Who are you?" said the boy, and he stopped to 
listen. 

"I am a snipe, and I can make your eyes see if you 
will let me." 

*'Well," said the boy, "I have always been blind, and 
I don't think a snipe could give me my sight, but I could 
not be worse off than I am now, so you might try, if you 
want to." 

No sooner had he said this than the snipe hopped on 
his shoulder and began brushing his eyes very lightly 
with the tip of her pretty spotted wing. This she did 
gently back and forth many times, until at last he 
shouted gladly that he could see. 

The little snipe did not let him go just then, but made 
him keep very quiet until she had polished his eyes so 



How the White Whales Happened 81 

bright that he could see the tiniest speck of sand in the 
bottom of the ocean ; then she sent him home. 

Thanking his Httle new-found friend, the boy ran 
back as fast as his feet could carry him. When he got 
near the house, he dropped down on his hands and knees 
again, and closing his eyes, came crawling in. As he 
entered he detected the odor of bear meat. 

"Grandmother, what is that good smell that makes 
me so hungry?" said he; but the old woman spoke 
harshly, and scolded him for not bringing back any wil- 
low weed. He still kept asking for food, hoping she 
would give him some of the bear, but she placed the 
muskrat before him again, while she ate the bear steaks. 
When she was too busy eating to notice him, he peeped 
at her with one eye, and saw her devouring greedily. 
When she was too well filled to eat any more, she went 
down to the sea to wash the bear grease off her hands 
and face, but she was so heavy with food that when she 
leaned over she fell into the water head first. 

The boy heard a shriek and ran to the shore just in 
time to see her rise to the surface, turn into a white 
whale, and swim away. 

Ever since then the Eskimos have believed that all 
white whales were once old women. Indeed, to this day, 
they insist that a bunch of white hair is found inside the 
brain of a white whale, which makes them all the more 
sure of it, 





A GIANT 

AND HIS DRUM 



Long ago, in a village in Eskimo Land, there lived 
a man with his wife and five sons, of whom they were 
very proud. 

One day the oldest son came to his father and said, 
"Father we have always been in the same place, and 
seen the same kind of people. I think it is time for me 
to go in search of another village and see something of 
the world." 

So bidding them all goodby, he took his hunting knife 
and his strong bow with a quiver full of arrows and 
went away. 

The next day the second son said that he must go 
after his brother. So he went too; and after him the 
third. At last the fourth followed the others and the 
parents found themselves alone with the youngest son, 
who w^as only a boy. He of course wanted to go 
to find his brothers, and the father and mother, 
who were already very sad at losing four boys, had 
hard work to keep him at home. They shut him 

82 



A Giant and His Drum 83 

in the house, and took turns watching that he did 
not get away. 

One day, however, the mother fell asleep and the boy, 
who had been waiting for a chance, slipped out of the 
house and ran as fast as he could go. After he had 
run far enough to feel sure they could not catch him, he 
made the image of a man out of birchbark and fastened 
it to the top of his parka hood, where it stood up very 
high and white. Having done this he went merrily on 
his way. 

After walking a long time he saw a huge house, with 
an enormous giant standing out in front of it. Beside the 
giant hung a drum. This drum was a big box, with seal 
intestine stretched over the ends, and all around the edge 
of it was bone, as sharp as a knife. The Eskimos use 
drums for their ceremonial dances, but the boy had never 
seen such a big one as this. On the ground all about 
the giant were the bones and skulls of the men he had 
devoured. 

The little fellow was so frightened he wanted to run 
away, but it was too late, for the giant had already seen 
him and shouted to him that he must dance. The boy 
obeyed, and while he was dancing the giant beat upon 
the drum and sang a long song. When he came to the 
end of the song, he gave a mighty shout and hurled the 
drum at the boy's head. Whizzing through the air, the 
drum struck the arm of the birchbark image and broke 



84 Animal Stones from Eskimo Land 

it off; then the boy took the drum and sang the giant's 
song. When he had finished, he threw the drum back 
and it cut off one of the giant's arms. They kept throw- 
ing the drum back and forth at each other until at last 
the image was broken, and the giant fell dead. The 
birchbark image had saved the boy's life, because the 
giant mistook it for the boy and threw the drum at it 
every time. 

The boy was terribly proud of himself; indeed, he 
could hardly believe he had killed that great giant, and 
he waited a little way off until he saw that the giant did 
not move; then he went into the house. When he got 
inside he heard a sound of crying that seemed to come 
from under the floor. There, in a deep pit, he found his 
four brothers, who were being kept by the giant for a 
great feast that was to take place the next day. If the 
boy had come two days later he would have found 
nothing left of his brothers but their bones. 

You may be sure the four boys were happy to be 
saved from such a cruel fate, and they could not praise 
their brother enough for his cleverness and courage. 

Bringing the great drum with them, they hurried back 
as fast as they could to their parents. 

After that they were all content to stay at home and 
hunt walruses and whales; for they had had enough 
of going abroad in search of adventure. 




LOVEK AND SERANAK 

Long ago, on St, Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea 
there Hved a strong man named Lovek. This man was 
very bad ; indeed, he was a big bully. Whenever any of 
his neighbors went hunting, Lovek would take away 
whatever they had killed, as soon as they had hauled it 
over the ice to the shore. Every one in the village was 
afraid of this man who took away all their food, and 
who was so strong no one could beat him. The people 
did not know what to do, and were almost afraid to go 
hunting at all, for Lovek was sure to find them and take 
away their game. 

Now in this village there lived an orphan boy with 
his uncle. The boy's name was Seranak, and he was so 
poor he had scarcely any clothes to wear and almost no 
food to eat. 

One night at the kasga, Seranak heard the people 
talking about Lovek. They hardly dared to speak aloud, 
and Seranak had to creep up close to his uncle to 
hear what they were saying; but he heard enough to 

85 



86 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

make him feel very sorry for all the people, and deter- 
mined to do something to help them get rid of such a 
bad man. 

When his uncle reached home, Seranak begged for 
some clothes and weapons that he might go hunting. 

At first his uncle refused, saying, ''No, Seranak. 
What would a little boy like you do if Lovek came 
along? He would take away anything you had caught 
and might kill you too." 

Seranak begged so hard that at last his uncle said he 
might go, and gave him a warm parka, a good pair of 
mukluks and a fine strong spear with a sharp tip made of 
walrus ivory, and a long line made of walrus hide. The 
boy thanked his uncle and went down to the ice which 
spread out like a roof over the sea. 

No sooner did he reach the edge of the ice than a 
walrus stuck his great head up out of the water. To 
Seranak that walrus looked very funny with his whisk- 
ers like an old man and two long tusks ; he seemed to be 
saying, 'What do you think you can do, little boy, with 
that long spear?" But he soon knew what "little boy" 
could do, for quickly. Seranak raised his arm, gave the 
spear a thrust, and it sank deep into the side of the 
walrus. After that the boy hauled the animal upon the 
ice and began cutting him up for meat. 

While he was working away with his uncle's fine 
hunting knife, Lovek came along, and stopping beside 




'Lovek, I have you at my mercy now' " 



87 



88 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

him with an evil grin, said, ''Ha ha, Seranak. So you 
are a big man now that you have killed a walrus ! It is 
good of you to go hunting for me. I will take the head 
now and the meat later." 

Seranak said not a word but went on with his work 
just as though he had heard nothing at all. 

This surprised Lovek, whose stupid big face took on 
a puzzled expression. He had never been treated like 
that before. Usually people jumped and looked scared 
when he shouted at them. 

Coming a little nearer, he roared at Seranak, "Boy, 
don't you hear me? Hand me that walrus head!" 

Seranak paid no attention at all, until Lovek was 
almost on top of him; then suddenly springing to his 
feet, he flung the surprised Lovek into the deep water 
between the floes of ice. After a while Lovek came to 
the top, pufiing and blowing like a whale. Every time 
he stuck his head out of the water, there was Seranak 
with his big spear. At last, when Lovek was nearly 

drowned and almost frozen, Seranak said, ''Lovek, I 
have you at my mercy now and I will not let you out 
unless you promise to be good and never again take that 
which does not belong to you." 

Of course Lovek promised. He was terribly fright- 
ened and greatly surprised to find that he could be 
beaten by a little boy. After that he was good to the 
hunters and became the kindest man in the village. 



Lovek and Seranak 89 

From that time Seranak was the hero of the people, 
and when he grew up the people called him "Ommalik," 
w^hich is the same almost as "Big Chief." 




THE CARIBOU 



Long ago there was an Eskimo family living in a 
place quite by themselves, and far away from any vil- 
lage. 

The father had been killed by a caribou some years 
before, so the widowed mother was alone with her two 
sons. They had been little boys when the father died, 
but now they were young men and fine hunters. 

Every day they used to go hunting. Always they 
brought back game of some kind, so the family lived on 
the fat of the land. 

At that time there were many caribou, which in those 
days had long sharp teeth and could bite and kill people. 
Men used to hunt them with bows and arrows and 
spears. 

One day the two young men went out to hunt as usual, 
but this time they did not return. 

Days passed and they did not come. Their poor 
mother was sad and anxious, waiting for them. Every 
day she looked about and watched and waited, but still 

90 



The Caribou 91 



they did not come home. She did not dare to go far 
from the house to search for them, for she was afraid 
of the fierce caribou with their sharp teeth. 

One day as she was watching, always hoping to see 
her sons coming back, a big crow came flying by. She 
called out, "Crow, Crow, can you tell me where are my 
two boys?" 

And the crow said, "Yes, I know where your two boys 
are." Then he flew up still higher and circled about 
saying, "Caw, caw !" and the poor mother was nearly 
frantic for fear that he would fly away without telling 
her, 

"O please come back!" she cried; but he flew a little 
higher, teasingly saying, "Caw, caw ! Wouldn't you like 
to know?" 

The woman went into her house and brought a piece 
of seal blubber and held it up. 

"I will give you this. Crow, if you tell me where to 
find them." 

Lazily the crow floated down and perched on the 
ground nearby. 

"Give it to me," said he. 

"Tell me first," said she. 

So cocking his head on one side he said, "All right, I 
will tell you, but your sons are both dead. The caribou 
killed them with their long teeth." 

The poor mother was in despair, but she remembered 



92 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

to give the crow his meat, and as he was about to fly 
away, she said, "Crow, if you will show me the way to 
my sons, I will feed you whenever you come." 

So the crow told her where to go, but he said, ''You 
will never feed me again if you go there, because the 
caribou will tear you with their teeth." 

Then he flapped his big black wings and said, "Caw, 
caw!" And the woman thought he was laughing at her. 

Going into the house, she covered herself all over with 
the red juice of cranberries. It is very sour and tastes 
very bad. Her whole parka was stained bright red with 
it ; even her mukluks and mittens. Then, without taking 
a weapon of any kind, she started off for the place where 
the crow had told her she would find her boys. 

It was a long way, and many caribou came after her 
and caught her parka in their teeth and tried to bite her, 
but as soon as they tasted the cranberry juice it was so 
terribly sour all their teeth fell out, leaving them unable 
to bite any more. 

When the mother came to where her two sons were 
lying, they seemed to be asleep and covered with wounds 
from the bites of the caribou. 

Crying, "Wake up, wake up!" in a loud voice, she 
kicked the soles of their feet, first one then the other. 
As she did this, each one in turn sat up and opened his 
eyes. They were very happy to see their mother, and 
she rejoiced to find them alive. Then she helped them 



The Caribou 93 



to their feet and took them home and nursed them back 
to health. 

As soon as their wounds healed, the boys went hunt- 
ing as before, but without fear, for from that time on, 
the caribou have never had any long teeth. 




AFOX STORY 



Long ago, in the mountains of the Seward Peninsula, 
there hved a fox who had a family of babies in his den. 
It was summer time, and he was busy trying to find food 
for his little family. Every morning he used to go hunt- 
ing, while Mother Fox stayed home to take care of the 
baby foxes, and see that they got into no mischief. When 
the young foxes grew big enough to hunt for themselves, 
Father Fox decided to go on a journey of adventure. 

One day he climbed a high mountain. There was a 
deep ravine and then another mountain, and he thought 
he would like to cross the divide to see if there was any 
game on the opposite mountain. He had never been 
over there, and he hoped he might find some good, fat 
ptarmigans or rabbits on a new hunting-ground. Look- 
ing about, he saw a bear who was eating a newly killed 
caribou. 

The fox called to the bear in a coaxing voice, saying, 
"Dear Cousin, give me a piece of that meat and some 
of the fat." 

94 



A Fox Story 95 

"No!" growled the bear. "You get away from here 
right away! If you don't I will kill you, too!" That 
bear was not at all polite, nor was he very generous, but 
the fox did not dare to say anything because he was 
really afraid of the bear, so he just went slinking away 
through the brush with his bushy tail dragging on the 
ground. 

"I will get even with the bear somehow," he muttered. 

After a while what should he meet but another bear. 

"Good morning, Cousin," said the fox most politely; 
"I was looking for you." 

"What were you looking for me for?" asked the bear. 

"Well, if you are hungry, I know where you can get 
a fine dinner," said the sly fox. 

"Where is that?" asked the bear, beginning to look 
interested. 

"A little while ago I saw another animal like you, 
only not so big, and he was eating a fine, fat caribou. I 
will show you where he is if you want; then, together, 
we can kill that other bear, and both have plenty to eat." 

The bear looked surprised. "O no," said he. "We 
never do such things as that. Bears do not kill each 
other. We are friends." 

"That is nothing," said the fox. "When we are 
hungry, we foxes kill each other, and eat each other, too. 
The bear I saw is a bad bear. He said he would bite 
you, if he met you." 



96 Animal Stones from Eskimo Land 

Now the fox knew he was telHng an untruth, but he 
wanted to make this bear angry with the other one. He 
was not a good character, that fox. Of course, the bear 
was angry at that. 

*'We will go fight now, and I will see what that bear 
means by saying such things." He was really furious, 
and went off through the woods with great strides, so 
that the fox had to run to keep up with him. 

As soon as he saw the bear with the caribou, he 
jumped at him and a desperate battle began. While 
they were busy fighting, the fox took all the fat from 
the caribou and hid it under his skin. 

When the second bear had beaten the bear with the 
caribou, and had driven him away, he saw the fox lying 
on the ground moaning and groaning as though in great 
pain. 

''What is the matter. Cousin?" asked the bear. 

"O!" groaned the fox, "I am almost dead!" And he 
rolled over and made believe to cry. "I got terribly hurt 
helping you in that terrible fight. It was I who gave 
your enemy the blow that drove him away." 

Now of course this was not true at all, but the bear was 
very sorry and thought him a brave and loyal friend. 

"You are a brave fox," he said, "and we will always 
be friends." 

Then they ate all they wanted of the caribou, and left 
the place together. 



A Fox Story 97 

When the fox got hungry he would just take some 
of the fat of the caribou from under his skin and feed 
on that. When the bear got hungry he could find nothing 
to eat but a few blueberries. The poor animal who was 
starving began to wonder why the fox was never hungry, 
so he asked him, ''Cousin have you been eating some- 
thing?" and the fox said, "When I am hungry, I just 
make a little hole in my skin and eat some of my own fat, 
then I am satisfied." Wasn't he an awful story-teller ? 

The bear thought he would like to try that, too, so he 
took a bite out of himself, and pretty soon he died. The 
wicked fox laughed at that, for it was the very thing he 
had planned. He was pleased to have the bear to eat, and 
removing the fat from his one-time friend, he stuffed it 
under his own skin, and for a long while lived not on the 
"fat of the land" as they say, but on the fat of the com- 
panion who trusted and admired him. 

Winter was coming; the days were growing dark and 
cold, and Mr. Sly Fox was beginning to get hungry 
again. He wondered what he should do for food, and 
began to hunt about the woods. 

One day he met a wolf who was also in search of food. 

The wolf asked him, "Fox, Fox, where have you 
been, you look so fine and fat, while all the other animals 
are hungry these cold days?" 

"Of course I look fine," said the fox. "I hunt all the 
time and get plenty of food." 



98 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

"What do you hunt?" 

The fox had to think hard for an answer; then he 
said, "Well, I fish every day." 

It was winter then, and so far north the days were 
very short. The sun got up late in the morning, and 
went to bed again in about three hours; even then he 
didn't get far up in the sky, but hung low like a great 
big red balloon on the horizon. 

The wolf asked the fox where he was getting all that 
fish. 

The fox answered, "O, I have a big lake where I get 
all the fish I want. I will show it to you if you would 
like me to." And he asked the wolf if he had any hooks 
to fish with. 

"No," said the wolf. "I have no fish-hooks because 
I never fish. I don't know how." 

"I wnll make you a hook and show you how to fish. 
It is easy," said the fox. 

Then he took some of the dried grass which is used 
by the Eskimo women for making baskets; weaving a 
rope out of it, he put a piece of stone on the end, and he 
and the wolf went fishing like the best of friends. When 
they reached the lake the fox made a hole in the ice and 
told the wolf to sit near the hole and to drop the stone 
into the water through the hole, then to keep moving it 
up and down by the string. 

"Now," said the fox, "you must remain the whole day 



A Fox Story 99 

moving that string up and down. When the sun sets 
you will get fish." 

The fox stayed, playing about watching the wolf, who 
sat patiently by the hole splashing the stone up and down 
in the water. Pretty soon the fox saw the wolf's big*, 
bushy tail was getting covered with water. Now it was 
getting colder every minute, and almost dark, and at 
last the fox saw that the wolf's tail was freezing fast to 
the ice of the lake. Then he began to laugh out loud: 
"Ha ha ha!" 

The wolf looked around suspiciously to see if the fox 
was laughing at him, as he was beginning to get cross. 
He was tired, anyway, of sitting there joggling that line 
up and down all day. 

"What are you laughing at, Fox?" he said. "Are you 
trying to trick me like you do every one?" 

Mr. Sly Fox put on a very surprised and sorry face. 
"O no," said he. "I wouldn't think of doing such a 
thing. I was just laughing with joy at the thought of 
all the fine whitefish we will soon have for supper." 

Then he began to play around the wolf, and soon he 
laughed. "Ha! ha! ha! O my! I will have plenty to eat 
now!" 

The wolf turned with an angry snarl, showing his 
long fangs. "What ! Are you talking about me ? Do you 
think you will eat me? We wih see!" And he made a 
leap for the fox, but his tail was stuck fast to the ice so 



100 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

that he could not get away. Throwing himself from 
side to side, and yelping like a dog, he struggled to get 
free, but still the ice held him prisoner, until at last, with 
an angry howl, he snapped off his tail with his own sharp 
teeth, and ran furiously after the treacherous fox, who 
was already nearly out of sight. The wolf chased him as 
hard as he could, and had nearly caught up with him, 
when the fox saw a hole in a steep bank and popped 
inside. The wolf was too big to go into the hole, so he 
sat outside, waiting for the fox to come out; but Mr. 
Fox was not to be caught that way. Knowing that the 
wolf would die from having chopped off his tail with his 
teeth, the fox just stayed safely where he was until 
morning; then came out and ate up his former friend. 
When he had finished devouring the wolf and felt well 
fed and comfortable, he started out in search of some 
other animal to fool. 

In his wanderings he came upon a high mountain, 
which had a long smooth place down its steep side, made 
by a snowslide which had swept everything before it, 
leaving a glistening path in its wake. 

The fox began to play sliding-down-the-mountain, 
and was enjoying it hugely. In one place he had to 
pass close to some big, sharp rocks, and he dug into the 
snow a little with his claws to get safely by. After that 
he climbed up to the top again, and there he saw a moun- 
tain sheep coming toward him. 



A Fox Story 101 

"Hello, Sheep. Don't you want to play with me?" 
asked the fox ; but the sheep said that he did not want to 
slide there. 

"Why not?" inquired the fox in a surprised sort of 
voice. 

"Because I know that if I slide down there, I shall be 
killed by those sharp rocks," said the sheep. 

But the fox answered, "Why, I thought a mountain 
sheep would not be afraid of a nice little slide like that. 
I will tell you how to do it. When you slide down, shut 
your eyes tight, as soon as you come near the rocks, and 
you will get past all right." 

The sheep said, "Let me see you do it first." 
So the fox lay down on the snow and slid. As he 
came near the rocks he dug his claws a little into the 
snow to steer himself safely past. When the sheep saw 
the fox come back without a scratch on his fine red coat, 
he said, "Well, I will try it, for surely a mountain sheep 
is as brave as a red fox!" 

Shutting his eyes tight, he said, "One, two, three!" 
And away he went, down like the wind straight into 
the sharp rocks, and was killed. 

That wicked fox was glad. He laughed again, for 
now he had a whole mountain sheep to eat, and that is 
the sweetest and tenderest meat in the world, and would 
last him a long time. 



102 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Before he had finished eating the sheep, a bear came 
along. 

"Fox, how did you kiU that sheep?" 

"I didn't kin that sheep. I found it dead," said the 
fox, for he did not want the bear to know how treacher- 
ous he was. 

"Well, we will share what is left," said the bear; and 
of course the fox did not dare to refuse him. He was a 
pretty big bear, and looked rather fierce and very 
hungry. 

No bear has any business to be wandering about the 
forest in winter. He should have been snugly sleeping 
in his den until summer time like any self-respecting 
bear does, except a polar bear, wdio stays out all night. 

They filled themselves up on sheep meat, and then 
walked away through the w^oods together like old 
friends. 

"Fox," said the bear, "are you ever afraid of 
animals?" 

"There is not an animal in the world I am afraid of," 
said the fox, "except that two-legged creature called 
Man. Of him I am in constant terror." 

The bear laughed at him. "You are silly to be afraid 
of that. I am not afraid of a man; only of ptarmigan." 

Then it was the fox's turn to laugh. "Why, I kill 
ptarmigan and eat them!" 

The bear did not like to be laughed at much by a fox, 



A Fox Story 103 

so he walked quietly along for a while, thinking; then 
he said, "Well, Fox, I will make a bargain with you. If 
you will kill two ptarmigan for me, I will kill two men, 
and give you one." 

The fox looked pleased. "That is easy," said he. 
"You wait here." And off he went trotting out of sight. 

I am sure he played some trick again, for ptarmigan 
are not easy to see in winter against the snow, when 
they wear their white dresses. 

Mr. Fox very shortly came back with a ptarmigan in 
his mouth. He gave it to the bear, who after eating it 
said, "Now, Fox, I will go and find a man for you." 

For two whole days the fox waited for the bear, and 
the bear did not come back. Then the fox felt sure that 
the bear had been killed, and he wanted to see how the 
man had killed him. 

Closely following the bear's tracks, he found the 
tracks of two men also. The fox was really scared at 
the sight of the men's tracks. He was terribly afraid 
of men, and he began to be sorry that he had been so 
wicked and had killed so many of his friends. 

Sneaking through the woods with his tail dragging, 
he passed near a trap, which he could smell for a long 
distance, it was so dirty. There was no danger of his 
being caught in that trap. He said to himself, "That 
man is lazy ; he will never catch any animals in his dirty 
traps. A lazy man will never catch anything." 






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'Snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last' 



104 



A Fox Story 105 

After a while he passed another trap, but this one 
had been set out hastily, so the fox got the bait without 
getting caught. 

'That man is lazy, too," said the fox, "for he gets up 
too late in the morning to put out his trap. These men 
are stupid creatures anyway. I don't believe I am afraid 
of them after all." 

Just as he said this, snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught 
at last. 

"Ah!" sighed the fox. "There is one man who is not 
lazy. His trap is clean; I could neither smell it, nor 
see it. I am caught now." 

So this is what happened to the bad fox who had 
killed so many animals. 

It never pays to be treacherous. One should always 
be loyal to one's friends. 





*), V 



..s^.. MI-E-RAK-PUK 

Long ago, near the mouth of the Copper Mine River, 
which flows into the Arctic River, there Hved an enor- 
mous giant whose name was Mi-e-rak-puk, which in the 
Eskimo language means "Giant." His cave was not far 
from an Eskimo village, and he kept the people of that 
village in constant terror because when he could not get 
enough whale meat, or seal to eat, he would capture the 
little children and eat them up. 

One fine day in the autumn a band of children went 
out from the village to gather berries. There were dif- 
ferent sorts of berries all about there that were good 
to eat: blueberries, lowbush cranberries, salmon-berries 
and still others. The mothers put these berries away, so 
that they would all have something good during the long 
cold winters. 

Before starting, the children had been cautioned not 
to go near the giant's cave ; but the sun was bright and 
warm, and the farther they got from home, the bigger 
and sweeter the berries seemed to grow. Then, too, 

106 



Mi-e-rak-puk 107 

they grow close to the ground, so that the children were 
looking down, and not noticing where their footsteps 
were leading them. 

There was great rivalry as to which one would get 
the most berries. 

One little girl said, "Look at my basket. It is nearly 
full!" And another one said, "Mine are the biggest 
berries !" 

Then they all fell to quarreling about their berries, 
and no one thought of the giant; until suddenly a big 
yoice roared at them, and there he stood. 

Before they had time to recover from their surprise 
and run away, the giant gathered them all up in his 
immense hands and popped them into his big parka. 
Then, laughing loudly, he threw the coat over his shoul- 
der and carried them to his cave. Poor little things! 
They writhed and wriggled and screamed and cried, 
but it did them no good at all. 

The giant only laughed the louder. 

"Oh, if we had only paid attention to our parents," 
cried one little boy, "we would not have come near the 
cave ! Now the giant will eat us up !" 

They all fell to weeping bitterly, saying they would 
never be disobedient again, if only they could get away 
from the giant. 

Just outside of the cave was a tall post with the 
giant's totem, which was a large whale. Mi-e-rak-puk 



108 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

tied the parka to the post and left it hanging there. 
Pretty soon, one of the children saw a bird fly by. 
They all began to sing : 

"Please come and set us free, 
For if we must stay here, 
Then eaten up we'll be," 
But the bird was a sea gull, and flapping his beautiful 
gray wings he sailed past them as though he heard noth- 
ing. Then they all fell to crying again. 

After a while a weasel came along, and they started 
again to sing : 

"O Weasel, if you are kind. 
Please come and set us free. 
For if we must stay here. 
Then eaten up we'll be." 
But the weasel went along about his business, and 
never even turned his head around. 

Then the children spied some little mice playing 
around the foot of the post, and sang their song to 
them ; but the wretched little creatures only frisked their 
little tails and scampered away. 

At last a fox came by, the kind called "cross fox" 
because he has a beautiful dark cross on his back. 

When the fox reached the post, he stopped and sniffed 
the air and looked up. 

Then the little children sang their sorg once more, 
and the fox freed them by biting the rawhide rope with 



Mi-e-rak-puk 109 

which they were tied to the post. But there was one 
Httle girl who had fallen asleep, way down deep in one 
of the sleeves of the parka, and didn't hear the others 
when they tumbled out, which they did in such a hurry 
that they did not notice her absence. 

The fox, who was very wise, suggested that they fill 
the coat with the white reindeer moss which grew so 
abundantly about them, so that the giant, seeing the coat 
so full, might think the children were still inside of it. 
Quickly they set to work and stuffed it out; then, hear- 
ing the giant coming, hid themselves behind a clump of 
low bushes nearby, and watched. 

Pretty soon he came striding along with a huge jade 
knife in his hand which he was busily sharpening on a 
great boulder he had picked up in front of his cave. 

He smacked his lips as he walked along, just as if he 
were tasting something good. 

When he came to the post, he raised the knife and 
slashed open one of the sleeves, saying, "Now, my little 
birds, you are going to make me a fine dainty for my 
dinner !" 

When he said that, and a bunch of moss fell out of 
the sleeve instead of a nice tasty baby, Mi-e-rak-puk 
flew into a rage, and stormed about the place and 
stamped his foot until the earth shook and the seismo- 
graphs recorded an earthquake. Ask your parents what 
a seismograph is. 



110 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

Well, then the angry giant tore at the coat, and the 
moss fell out and got into his hair and eyes, it blew about 
so; when suddenly out tumbled the frightened little girl 
from the end of the sleeve. Mi-e-rak-puk picked her 
up by the back of her dress, and held her out with her 
legs and arms waving in the air, just as a person some- 
times holds a kitten by the back of its neck. 

"Ha ha!" roared the giant. "Now I've got you! But 
there's so little of you, I couldn't even make one good 
bite out of you." 

The little girl squirmed and kicked, and then she said, 
"O please, Mr. Giant, if you only won't eat me, I will be 
good and work for you all my life, and keep your house 
clean, and do the cooking." 

So the giant carried her in and put her down on the 
floor. 

"If you dare to try to run away, I will throw you into 
the soup," he said, pointing to a huge stone pot. 

Then he made her take off her little parka and put 
on one of his, which dragged about her feet so that 
she could hardly move at all without falling down. 
After that he tied her by a long rope made of walrus 
hide, which is very strong, so that she could go out of 
doors but could not possibly get away. 

While the giant was off hunting one day, the little 
girl's parents came looking for her, and wanted to take 
her home at once ; but she told them that the giant would 



Mi-e-rak-puk HI 

surely come after her and destroy the whole village, if 
they did that ; so the parents planned a trick to fool the 
giant. 

The father and mother hid behind some bushes, and 
when the giant came home with a seal on his back, the 
child began to cry pitifully. 

"What is the matter with you?" said the giant. "You 
squeak like a mouse!" 

"Oh, some of my old friends, the little children I used 
to play with, passed by picking berries, and they made 
fun of these clothes." Then she cried some more. 

"Well," said the giant, "stop that silly squalling, and 
put on your own parka. You can't get away from me 
anyway, for I keep you tied all the time. But give me 
my dinner first. I am hungry, and would eat you, if you 
were fat enough." 

The little girl placed a whole cooked seal before him, 
which he devoured as though it were a dainty lamb chop, 
then she sang a little song, and he went to sleep. He 
snored so loud that the people thought it was thunder, 
which is very seldom heard so far north. 

Softly slipping into his hand a tiny sealskin pouch 
containing some "sleep charms" the witch-doctor had 
given her father, the little girl slipped out of the giant's 
clumsy parka into her own small one. Taking a last 
look at the giant, to make sure that he was fast asleep, 
she ran out to her father, who cut the rope with his 



112 Animal Stories from Eskimo Land 

hunting knife. Lifting the little girl to his back, he 
started for the village as fast as he could go. The 
mother trotted along behind, keeping a sharp lookout 
over her shoulder to see if they were being fol- 
lowed. 

Before they got out of sight, the giant snored so 
loud that the bag shook out of his hand and he awoke. 
Loudly he called for the little girl. No one answered. 
Muttering angrily, he rushed outside, and saw them 
hurrying away. 

With a howl of rage, he strode after them, gaining 
rapidly upon them at every step. 

When the little girl saw that he was catching up with 
them, she slipped down from her father's back and 
struck the ground with her little fingers, saying some 
magic words that just came into her mind. Immediately 
a deep river flowed between the giant and her. It was 
so deep and wide that he could not cross it. 

The little girl and her parents sat on their side of the 
river to rest, and watched the giant, who tried in vain 
to get across. 

After a while he called out to the little girl to tell him 
how to get over. 

She told him to get into a mussel shell, so he looked 
and found a mussel shell, but as soon as he touched it, 
the shell sank. 

Then he called over to the child again, commanding 



Mi-e-rak-puk 113 

her to show him a way across, and she told him to drink 
up the river and walk over. 

Stooping down, the giant began to drink. He drank 
and drank until he was so full of water that he rolled 
right over into the river and was drowned. 

Then the little girl and her parents went home, and 
the people of the village were safe and happy once more. 

And so the winter is passing. 



